| Product: |
It's A Bear's Life - Anna Wilson |
| Date: |
10/08/07 (128 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: great story and pictures
Disadvantages: none!
'It's a Bear's Life', written by Anna Wilson and illustrated by Suzanne Diederen, is a really fun little picture story book which gives a message that the grass is not always greener on the other side as I will explain...
At the beginning of the book we meet the two main characters - Oscar and Parker. Oscar is a small boy and Parker is his bear! (I just love those names!) The thing is though, is that Parker really isn't very happy because he feels that the treatment he gets from Oscar is just a bit too rough! He is constantly being hit by footballs, bumped downstairs and getting corn flakes all over him at breakfast time - all thanks to Oscar!
One night, after a particularly hazardous day, Parker decides that he has had enough, and after packing his bag and leaving Oscar a note, heads off to The Bear Hotel for a well earned break! In order to get to the hotel he has to take the 'midnight growler' (a train) and gets to the station just in time, only to find the Growler packed with other bears, all in need of a good rest too! (There is something reminiscent of The Polar Express animation at this point!)
Once at the hotel, arriving just in time for a delicious breakfast of honey pancakes, Parker gets chatting to all the other bears. They go to the beach and start playing together, but Parker finds that the games are not splashy or bumpy or bouncy enough! He also finds out why the other bears have come to the hotel and discovers that a lot have been treated a lot worse than him - one bear's boy left him at home while he went on holiday; another bear's girl started to prefer dolls and another one was just too old! Parker starts to feel a bit sheepish about his own reasons and is suddenly missing Oscar very much!
At night, Parker really starts to miss Oscar - so much so that he takes himself off back to the station and the Midnight Growler, and heads back home to Oscar who is over the moon to see him again. At the end of the book the games do hurt a little, and when he is carried it is a bit bumpy, but Parker really doesn't mind very much - especially when he has honey pancakes for breakfast!
This is a very entertaining little story which is written with both humour and feeling. It's nice to see that at the end of the story that Parker goes back to Oscar and they both start to appreciate each other a little bit more! The story is really made by the pictures though, especially the ones at the beginning which show just how rough life with Oscar can be! There is a great one where Oscar is reading a bedtime story and is actually sitting on Parker! All the pictures are bright and colourful with lots of detail for little children to look at! The last picture in the book is absolutely gorgeous with Oscar and Parker having a warm hug in bed together, and I defy anyone not to go 'aaahhh!'
The title is quite an interesting one because what is the perfect life for a bear? Is it all about rough and tumble with his owner, or a peaceful, tranquil but a largely unexciting one at the Bears Hotel. The answer is probably somewhere in between the two, but this does provide quite a lot of talking points about the story. My daughter thinks that Oscar is very mean in the way he treats Parker, but also can't understand why Parker does not stand up for himself more!
The language is nice and straightforward which is good in a book that you want to share with little ones. Having said that though, the way that the text is set out on the page is often interesting and doesn't necessarily follow traditional straight lines. I also like the way that certain words are typed in bold which draws attention to them and you know that you have to emphasise them when reading out loud. My four year old loves these words and these are the ones that she wants to know what they say, and having read the story a few times, she is now saying words like 'bump' amd'ouch!' with me!
So overall my daughter and I would really recommend this book - for its sweet, funny story,its lovely illustrations and for interesting my daughter in the text! If you are interested,'It's a Bear's Life' is published by McMillan and has a RRP of £4.99
Summary: A good story to share with youg children
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