Another story about a bear! (Old Bear - Jane Hissey)

Member Name: kingfisher111

Product:	Old Bear - Jane Hissey
Date:	05/10/06 (194 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good storyline and lovely illustrations

Disadvantages: none

This is a lovely story book with excellent illustrations by Jane Hissey and I would say that it is suitable for children from about three years upwards as there is a slightly more complicated storyline to follow than some of the earlier picture books.

The story starts with the central caharacter Bramwall Brown, who is a stuffed toy dog, sitting on the windowsill with his friends Duck, rabbit and Little Bear. They are all friends but they suddenly remember that there is another friend who they haven't seen for a while.

That friend is Old Bear, and because he is old and somewhat fragile, he was put away in the attic to keep him safe from the rough children.

However, the four friends decide that enough is enough and it is time for Old Bear to be back where he belongs - and besides, the children are older now and much less rough. So they set off on a mission to rescue their old friend!

However, as Old Bear is up in the attic they have one big problem - how do they get up there to rescue him? They have to come up with a plan, which is to build a tower out of bricks in order to reach the trapdoor. The plan seems to be working, but all of a sudden, the tower starts to wobble, and Baby Bear who is at the top comes tumbling down!

Time for another plan! Then another! And another! the toys come up with a number of ingenious ideas to help them reach the trapdoor - making themselves into a tower, bouncing on the bed, climbing the plant in the corner of the room to name but a few - but none of these work! Duck in particular gets quite upset as he thinks of Old Bear up in the attic, lonely and cold! Bramwell says that they must never give up though!

Eventually they hit on a plan that does work and Little Bear flies a toy aeroplane, passes the trapdoor and pushes it open. He flies round again and is able to haul himself into the attic. It is very dark and quiet up there so he calls out to Old Bear who is propped up by a cardboard box and is very pleased to see him, They make their escape by using a couple of hankies as parachutes to float down to the room below! All the toys are extremely happy, especially Old Bear, as they cuddle up together for a group hug!

This story has a lovely old fashioned feel to it which I really like. The toys are all the traditional type of stuffed toy and they are exquisitely drawn. There is so much detail in all the pictures, especially one of Old Bear in the attic surrounded by all the old musty things you would expect to see up there!

The story is all about friendship and what friends will do for each other so it is very much about caring. As my daughter is just starting pre school and making new friends it is a good one to share with her and to talk about her new friendships.

It also has a strong message about not giving up even when things are difficult and seem impossible. I know sometimes that my daughter is quick to give up on things that she doesn't like doing, so we can talk about how clever the toys are not to do this!

As I said it is a longer story then some picture books so will probably take about ten minutes to read with a child so they will need to be able to concentrate and follow all the different ideas in the story.

Our copy is published by Random House and is currently selling on Amazon for £4.99. It has 28 pages although at least half of these are mainly pictures.

Overall I would say that this is a very enjoyable read and gives plenty to talk about with your child.

Summary: A lovely caring, sharing story!