Squelch Squerch! (We're Going On a Bear Hunt - Michael Rosen)

Member Name: Mauri

Product:	We're Going On a Bear Hunt - Michael Rosen
Date:	10/09/02 (320 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Lovely pictures, good story

Disadvantages: none

As all parents know kids are strange infuriating creatures especially between the ages of 2-5. One way in which this strangeness manifests itself is in their fixation with particular items that will send parents slowly but surely insane. Sometimes as was the case with my oldest son, it can be an old moth eaten red T-shirt that they have to sleep with every night, God forbid that we ever mislaid it! Something else that lend themselves to particular fixations are books.

*Typical scenario*

MONDAY NIGHT:

Dad:” What would you like me to read you dear?”
The little dear: “Mr Silly!”
Dad:“Ok”

TUESDAY NIGHT:
Dad:” What would you like me to read you dear?”
The little dear: “Mr Silly!”
Dad: “But we read that last night…”
Light of my life: “Want Mr Silly!”
Dad: “ Yes Dear”

WEDNESDAY NIGHT:

Dad:” What would you like me to read you dear?”
The Adorable One: “Mr Silly!”
Dad: “How about we read….” “ MR SILLY!”
Dad: “Look at this book it’s really good…”
The Horrible Child!: “ I want Mr Silly!”

THURSDAY NIGHT (TWO WEEKS LATER!)

Now I have nothing against Mr Men Books but by this time I know this book by heart and I try and skip a few lines but I have no chance I am picked up on it and correct almost immediately. Eventually they do get bored but it can take a while!

Now what I have described might be a slight exaggeration but it gives you an idea of how you can grow to loathe and hate a particular book even though it was once a favourite of yours.

However we have been lucky in our family that our kids favourites book as always been ‘We’re Going On A Bear Hunt’ a book that is ideally suited for reading and re-reading and one that I have n
ever got bored with reading to them.

This is delightful book written in a very simple but clever style by Michael Rosen and beautifully illustrated by Helen Oxenbury.

It tells the slightly surreal story (to an adult at least to a child it makes perfect sense) of a family; dad four kids and a dog going out across differing landscapes to search out a bear that of course will be found in a dark cave. Subsequent sets of pages describe the group making their way through fields, a river, mud, forests and snowstorms. Each type of landscape has it’s own sounds that accompanies it as the group pass through.

Michael Rosen has always been fascinated by unusual words and sounds in language and in this book he uses his imagination to create new words to describe the sounds that are made, for instance moving through mud “Squelch Squerch!” or the sound of the snow storm “Hooo Wooo”.

The kids love it. Each part of the book is repetitive but again that’s something younger kids love and for parents it’s always fun to make the sound in a slightly different way each time. The hunt ends with the bear being found but then a mad dash to get back home starts and eventually finishes with everyone hiding in their bed. A great place for a bedtime book to finish!

The story and the imaginative use of words and sounds is only half of the brilliance of this book. Helen Oxenbury’s illustrations are a perfect match to the text. They have a watercolour like soft rounded feel to them. The dad always looks bemused by what’s going on (this is just like real life) and the kids look precocious enough to try and catch a bear. There is a wonderful attention to detail so that for very young kids you can ask them to point out certain things in the drawings and use the picture as a ‘look and find game’. The coloured drawings are soft and comforting using warm earthy colours in a watercolour style r
ather than being brash and loud. My favourite is a tiny drawing of the bear sadly walking back to his cave at the end after he has been shut out of the house… he only wanted to play….

The book is simple and yet very clever in the way it is put together. The repetitive nature of the prose and the simplicity of the words will get even the youngest child hooked, the repetition builds up a reassuring rhythm after a few pages and the funny sounds provide a bit of fun. There is also a small amount of tension that is felt as the characters get closer an closer to the bear’s cave, even after many reads children sense it’s a little scary to find out what’s inside the dark cave even though the child knows exactly what they will find.

It works on almost every level and being a fairly short but involved read with plenty of pictures to look at it has become a firm favourite in our house at bedtime. The final complement is that in our household this book (along with ‘Gerald’ the family teddy) is the one thing the kids always want to take with them on long journeys or holidays.

‘We’re Going On A Bear Hunt’ is available in differing book sizes from small pocket sized editions to large shared reading versions. Some editions are paperback or hardback but the one to get is the thick hardwearing board book version with glossy easily clean wiped pages both essential in younger children’s books.

It is published by Walker Books and can be bought from most high street book shops from around £3.99 to £6.99 or online from Amazon.uk for around £3.50-£5.99 depending on the format.


And finally let me say….

Swishy Swashy!

Splash Splosh!

HOOO WOOO!

Thank you for reading and rating this opinion.

© Mauri 2002

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