Book review: A Beginner’s Guide To Bear Spotting by Michelle Robinson and David Roberts

It’s very unlikely any of us in the UK will ever get up close and personal with a bear in the wild… but that’s exactly what children’s books are all about – to transcend the stuffy, grown-up boundaries of possibility and fire little imaginations.

And A Beginner’s Guide To Bear Spotting does that in spades. From the pen and pencil of award-winning author-illustrator team Michelle Robinson and David Roberts (There’s A Lion In My Cornflakes and Mouse Noses On Toast, respectively), this autumn-hued volume is a visual delight.

“Going for a walk in BEAR country?” it asks the reader and our proxy, a genderless, nameless child in a blue balaclava with a huge backpack.

“You’d better make sure you know your bears.” So we’re introduced to a black bear and a brown bear (sketched simply on graph paper) – and the child’s little blue soft toy bear.

We (and child) set off through the forest – and oh, bump into both types (“This must be your LUCKY DAY.”) How to defend ourselves? Hmm…

By turns funny and sweet, it’s a real pleasure to devour – there are bound to be more awards on the horizon for this pair.

Published in hardback by Bloomsbury