Reading aloud is such a joy when you have the right book and recently I bought one that has even won an award for being ‘terrific’ to read aloud.
A Visitor For Bear won the E.B. White Read Aloud Award this year and deservedly so. Written by Bonnie Becker, the story is a whole lot of fun. Bear is comfortable being by himself, he has never had any visitors to his house and even has a sign to discourage any arriving in the future. Although bears feature quite heavily in children’s literature I think this bear is definitely one of my favorites.
No one ever came to Bear’s house.
It has always been that way,
and Bear was quite sure he didn’t like visitors.
He even had a sign.
There is so much comedy in this story and it is great fun to play up while reading it aloud. A very persistent little grey mouse turns up to visit bear – much to his disgust – and hilarity ensues as the mouse continues to pop up causing the bear great anguish.
‘…there was the mouse! (Small and grey and bright-eyed of course.) “BEGONE!” roared Bear.’
The illustrations match the text perfectly. Illustrator Kady MacDonald Denton captures the humour in the text by making the big brown bear exaggerated in his movements as he tries to make the mouse leave his house; he points to the door furiously, he jumps up and down and finally drops the floor with tears of frustration.
‘“I give up”, he blubbered. “You win, I am done”.’
Eventually they do a deal and the mouse agrees to leave after they have one cup of tea together.
The stunning format that the publisher Walker Books has used is a long paperback, with beautiful paper and MacDonald Denton makes use of all the space. The spreads are beautiful, one in particular as the mouse and bear kick back and have a cup of tea together, warming their feet by the fire.
It is then that bear realises that maybe having a friend is not so bad after all. Not preachy, this is a fantastic story about friendship and letting people in, themes that affect both children and adults.
I love, love, love this book. The watercolor is perfection, the story so moving. I actually bought this book for my best friend’s 3 year old because it’s so beautiful (and because his mother is a crazy neatnick and it was a good tease too!).
I love this book. I bought one for my nephew after reading it at school to my students. My own son wanted to keep it so I went and bought a third one.