Big Brown Bear's Cave

Big Brown Bear's Cave is a lovely picture book. It tells the story of Brown bear who finds a new cave and can't make it feel like home. So he goes out to find 'stuff' to put in his cave. He stumbles across a human street and notices their caves (also known as sheds) are full of stuff so he decides to collect some of it to fill his cave with. And he goes all out filling his cave with all the junk that we have in our sheds and garages. Tables, chairs, lamps, watering cans, guitars and much much more soon fill up Bear's cave; so much so that he can no longer fit in it to any of the things bears do. Even worse, he can't share his new cave with his friends. In the end Bear finds himself completely stuck amongst all the stuff and turns to his friends to help him out. Soon he realises that all this stuff isn't that good, and his bear friends find a way to share the cave together which makes it truly feel like home. This is a great book for reading with children and it creates lots of talking points. It also is a good story to use when talking to children about materialism and what are the really important things to care about, like enjoying friendship. There are really lovely illustrations in this book which will captivate and engage readers. I think this book will also be a good gift for dads who love their 'man cave' and for long-suffering wives ever on at them to clear them out! We'll be enjoying this book at bedtime tonight and I'm sure there will be calls for a repeat read. Picture book / Ages 4+ / Reviewed by Marie Berry, teacher.

Suggested Reading Age 5+