I’m delighted to bring you not one, but two, brilliant picture books in this post. And one of them has just been nominated for the Waterstone’s Children’s Book Prize 2017!

The Bear Who Stared

Bear liked nothing better than to come out of his cave in the morning and stare, and stare, and stare….  The other animals he met in the woods did not like being stared at very much so they always tried to shoo bear away.  That is, until Bear met the goggly-eyed Frog.

Frog encouraged the socially awkward Bear to reflect upon what he was doing wrong.  He soon realised that there was one simple change that he could make to help him make friends with the other animals.

The next morning, Bear put his new-found wisdom into practise only to be pleasantly surprised by the results.

The striking illustrations and wonderful facial expressions really grabbed the attention of my pre-schooler (the goggly-eyed frog being  a particular favourite.) A simple and heart-warming story which would be the perfect tool to help young children learn how to make friends with others.  Never underestimate the power of a smile.

This book is one of the fantastic shortlisted titles in the ‘Illustrated Books’ category of the Waterstone’s Children’s Book Prize, a highly coveted award which has continued to grow in status since its beginnings in 2005.  Last year’s outright winner, ‘My Brother is a Superhero,’ by David Solomons was one of summer’s most-loved titles.  You can find my review here .

The Lumberjack’s Beard

Big Jim Hickory lived in a little log cabin by a forest. Everyday started the same – limbering up, hearty breakfast and then chop-choppety-chop! TIMBER! Then he headed back to his cabin.

This carried on until, one evening, he heard a pecking at his door.  Jim found a very small and very cross bird.  He had chopped down the tree in which the bird had built his nest. After some scratching of his big bristly chin, Jim had an idea – he invited the bird to live in his beard.

As Jim chopped down more and more trees, more and more animals came to live in his beard.  The bird was soon joined by a porcupine and a beaver.

After a particularly bad night’s sleep, Jim comes up with a plan which would make everyone happy.

Another fun picture book with an important environmental message packed full of fantastic vocabulary, giggles and big bristly beards!  Highly recommended.

Library Girl.

*Thank you very much to Templar for sending me these two titles to review*