Herobear and the Kid: The Inheritance

I have to admit to being disappointed with this. The art is beautifully cartoony, but the story doesn't measure up. The concept of the story works, and I'm curious to see more of these characters, but the story is overwritten in a way that makes me unsure of who the audience is. It's much too wordy for younger readers, yet the story is much too heavy handed for older readers. I think, if the writing were pared back and the artwork allowed to do more of its share of the work in telling the story, this could be a classic.

A charming and wonderful story about a kid who discovers that his inheritance from his beloved grandfather, a small stuffed bear, is actually Herobear, an 8-foot flying super-powered bear who protects the kid from school bullies, fights robots, and generally stirs up any kid's quota of adventure. Later, the kid discovers a secret about his grandfather that (sort of) explains what it's all about, but much remains unexplained in this book, and that's just fine. At first the concept put me in mind of "Calvin and Hobbes", but really it's only a superficial resemblance.

Tyler's grandfather has just passed away and left him an old stuffed bear and a broken pocket watch. His family has moved into his grandfather's house and Tyler is being bullied at school, fallen in love with a really nice little girl in his class and being driven insane by his annoying sister. Then he begins to discover some amazing things, starting with his bear turning into a giant living polar bear that can save the day.

I didn't get into this book as much as I wanted to. The illustrator admits that he isn't a great inker and didn't really clean up his artwork and it kind of kills me a little bit and made it harder for me to get into. That being said the story is interesting and creative. It definitely had some unexpected twists and show more turns that I personally did not see coming. There don't appear to be anymore volumes of the story which is sad making b/c I would love to see where the author was going to take the story. I also thought all the notes at the end where he talks about how he came up with the story and developed characters (and why his art style isn't very clean) in conjunction with early artwork and character sketches was pretty great. show less

Tyler's grandfather has just passed away and left him an old stuffed bear and a broken pocket watch. His family has moved into his grandfather's house and Tyler is being bullied at school, fallen in love with a really nice little girl in his class and being driven insane by his annoying sister. Then he begins to discover some amazing things, starting with his bear turning into a giant living polar bear that can save the day.

I didn't get into this book as much as I wanted to. The illustrator admits that he isn't a great inker and didn't really clean up his artwork and it kind of kills me a little bit and made it harder for me to get into. That being said the story is interesting and creative. It definitely had some unexpected twists and show more turns that I personally did not see coming. There don't appear to be anymore volumes of the story which is sad making b/c I would love to see where the author was going to take the story. I also thought all the notes at the end where he talks about how he came up with the story and developed characters (and why his art style isn't very clean) in conjunction with early artwork and character sketches was pretty great. show less

Tyler's grandfather has just passed away and left him an old stuffed bear and a broken pocket watch. His family has moved into his grandfather's house and Tyler is being bullied at school, fallen in love with a really nice little girl in his class and being driven insane by his annoying sister. Then he begins to discover some amazing things, starting with his bear turning into a giant living polar bear that can save the day.

I didn't get into this book as much as I wanted to. The illustrator admits that he isn't a great inker and didn't really clean up his artwork and it kind of kills me a little bit and made it harder for me to get into. That being said the story is interesting and creative. It definitely had some unexpected twists and show more turns that I personally did not see coming. There don't appear to be anymore volumes of the story which is sad making b/c I would love to see where the author was going to take the story. I also thought all the notes at the end where he talks about how he came up with the story and developed characters (and why his art style isn't very clean) in conjunction with early artwork and character sketches was pretty great. show less

Tyler's grandfather has just passed away and left him an old stuffed bear and a broken pocket watch. His family has moved into his grandfather's house and Tyler is being bullied at school, fallen in love with a really nice little girl in his class and being driven insane by his annoying sister. Then he begins to discover some amazing things, starting with his bear turning into a giant living polar bear that can save the day.

I didn't get into this book as much as I wanted to. The illustrator admits that he isn't a great inker and didn't really clean up his artwork and it kind of kills me a little bit and made it harder for me to get into. That being said the story is interesting and creative. It definitely had some unexpected twists and show more turns that I personally did not see coming. There don't appear to be anymore volumes of the story which is sad making b/c I would love to see where the author was going to take the story. I also thought all the notes at the end where he talks about how he came up with the story and developed characters (and why his art style isn't very clean) in conjunction with early artwork and character sketches was pretty great. show less

Just finished reading this to my son for the first time (& my first reread in a while). Such a great book to share with him & one I'll be recommending to many friends!