Bears are ubiquitous in children’s literature. They are truly everywhere. In a recent NYT’s article Anita Silvey, a children’s author, reviewed three new bear books. Two of these books were written by European authors; one by an American.
“Bear Despair” by the French author Gaetan Doremus is a wordless book. The illustrations are not very detailed, cartoon-like drawn in mostly muted tones. It was chosen by the NYT as one of this year’s Best Illustrated Children’s Books. A sleeping bear is robbed of his teddy bear by a sly fox. When the bear catches up with the fox, the fox has tossed the teddy bear into the air. The bear then devours the fox. This story line continues until the bear finally retrieves his beloved teddy and then regurgitates all of the animals who were his former enemies.
“The Bear in the Book” by Kate Banks centers on a mother reading a bed time story to her young son. The story is about a hibernating bear who is growing very sleepy in preparation for his winter’s nap. The illustrations are in a large format and resemble primitive-like paintings.
Lastly, “The Island” by the Dutch writer Marije Tolman is also a wordless book. I have not seen this book; the other two are new additions to our collection. The reviewer says that she “she has read the book dozens of times and still can’t frame an exact story line.” The interpretations are left to the readers. This is the kind of story that children will return to again and again seeing different things with each “reading.”
It seems that even though bears are everywhere, there are still many more bear stories to be told.