The Blanket Bears

By Author / Illustrator

Samuel Langley-Swain, Ashlee Spink

Genre

Adventure

Age range(s)

Publisher

Owlet Press

ISBN

9781999762858

Format

Paperback / softback

Published

15-10-2019

Synopsis

An accessible, warm-hearted story, written by an adoptive parent, centred around two young bears who find themselves out in the cold, alone, and begin their journey to being adopted into a forever family. The story acknowledges the mix of emotions children being adopted can feel - the fear and worry, as well as the joy of experiencing love and kindness from their new carers. With appealing animal characters and beautiful illustrations, The Blanket Bears offers an honest yet gentle account of the complete adoption journey for children starting or trying to understand the process. It's also a great introduction to young children more widely about how the process of adoption works and how some families come to be together. In order the strike the right balance of accuracy and sensitivity for young readers, the author consulted and collaborated with professionals and psycholigists as well as drawing on the lived experiences of his children. Many children's books about adoption focus purely on adapting into the new family but this has a more holistic and realistic focus, all from a child's perspective. This book is perfect for primary schools in early years and key stage 1 to help children empathise with their adopted peers. Social workers, foster carers and adoptive families with younger children often use The Blanket Bears as a soft and sensitive warm up to life story work as it helps adopted children feel less aloneand process their own adoption story through their shared experiences with the bears in the story.

Reviews

A simple picture book explaining the adoption process but done through telling the story of two small bears alone in the woods with no-one to care for them. Tilly the fox hears they need some help and goes to find them. She takes them to Bailey and Niko, 'foster care bears', who look after them and keep them safe until their forever adoptive family is found for them. Written by an adoptive Dad, the book explains the adoptive process and the concept of adoption really well for a young child. It is a gentle story, the illustrations are really warm and colourful, and it is very reassuring. Because the story features animals, it somehow seems to make it feel less threatening for a child reader. This is a great book for adoptive parents to share with their children and for use in schools to help other children understand the process. I really liked it and feel it needs promoting to make others aware of it. The book has also been endorsed by AdoptionUK