Touring Picture Book: The Boy and The Bear by Tracey Corderoy and illustrated by Sarah Massini.

It’s time for another Touring Picture Book post, welcome! Myself and the Touring Picture Book team are sharing a wonderful story of friendship this month. If you missed last months piece it was all about Sam Usher’s latest book Storm which you can find here. I also completed a craft with my little ladies that connected to the book.

 The Boy and the Bear is written by Tracey Corderoy and  illustrated by Sarah Massini. My girls and I first came across this book at our local library last year and we thought it was such a lovely read. Since then The Boy and the Bear has received much praise and in September this year a paperback version of the book was made available. Published by Nosy Crow, I was delighted to receive the latest publication which the Touring Picture Book team chose as November’s pick.

Sometimes you can wish for something and you may be lucky enough for that wish to come true.

Readers are introduced to a young boy who enjoys playing and he longs for a friend who can join him. He receives a message on a paper boat asking if he would like to play. The boy is so happy and the sender of the message turns out to be Bear. It is a peculiar friendship and one that the boy didn’t imagine. Bear is so big and his understanding of games the boy plays aren’t quite the way they should be played. However, Bear has an idea, to build a tree house.

Their friendship begins to flourish over the summer and the tree house is representative of what a good team they make. The friendship brings about many smiles and lasts changing seasons, that is until winter comes. Winter becomes a sad season for boy and his dear friend Bear is no longer around. Where has he gone?

Tracey Corderoy and Sarah Massini have created such a gorgeous read. The illustrations are so gentle and capture a beautiful friendship. I love how it encourages play thoughout and how it is set outdoors. The book is a nod to changing seasons and hibernation and the lyrical text is child friendly. The friendship you discover is a strong one and the story, I am pleased to inform ends sweetly.

My little ladies love the hat that the boys wears throughout the book, even in summer. With that in mind I thought it would be nice to get crafty and complete something that my eldest has shown interest in, sewing. It turned out to be a wonderful collaborative crafting activity, that my youngets daughter go involved in too and we even made a pom pom to go on top of the hat.

To make the hat I drew the shape of the hat I wanted on cardboard and then pierced the hat with holes using a screw.

My girls painted the hat the colour they wanted using Brian Art paintsticks and then using a simple sewing stitch used wool to craft their hat with my help on hand.

To complete the hat we also made a pom pom. This was done using two pieces of card shaped as ring doughnuts and then a piece cut out making a C shape. This was then wrapped with the desired wool (you could do this in layers of different colours). Once complete and I thought it was thick enough I cut along the edge of the cardboard circles. Finally, I tied wool around the centre of the pom pom so that when you remove the cardboard the pom pom is secure and will remain in the ball shape and then one you’ve taken the cardboard away your pom pom is complete.

To see what the rest of Touring Picture Book team got up do head over to their blogs:

Bookbairn- Audiobooks

Along Came Poppy- Origami

Acorn Books- Ice sensory play and experiments.

The Touring Picture Book team will be joining forces again next year so do watch out for that. Until now and then I hope you have a lovely festive season and a happy start to 2019.

Disclaimer: I received this book from the publishers. All words and opinions are my own. This post contains affiliate links.