Orchard Books ISBN 9781783707959 £6.99
This fun book is a salutary tale for young readers surrounding the perils of bringing a bear to school. The oversized teddy steps on feet, eats everyone’s lunch and growls in class. Its laugh-aloud comedy value will cause much discussion in the KS1 classroom supported by the enticing print-style pictures. The text is the embodiment of young children’s infinite capacity to suspend disbelief… as if you’d take a REAL bear to school! It also paints a fantastic picture of all the activities taking place in an Early Years classroom which children will be able to relate to and this is presented in an artful way – who’d want a bear to spoil all of this fantastic fun! The book ends on the comfortable note of being cosy at home with your bear who will always be there ‘because he’s your bear!’ I particularly enjoyed the predictable rhymes in this book which makes it a great read-aloud for young readers who will be bursting to guess the next word! Age range: 3- 5.
Laura Manison Shore, Senior Lecturer in Early Years & Primary Education, UWE, Bristol