My Friend Bear

My Friend Bear is the third and final book in Jez Alborough’s Eddy and the Bear children’s picture book series. In the first two books, Eddy and the bear were afraid of each other. In this one, both Eddy and the bear are feeling sad because they have no friends. Eddy is in the forest one day and comes across the bear’s giant teddy, which he immediately recognizes as belonging to the big bear that scared him before. When he hears noises, he hides behind the giant teddy. The bear appears, crying, so Eddy consoles him by giving a voice to his big teddy. Eventually the bear figures out what’s actually going on and the pair have a great laugh over the fact that the bear thought his teddy could talk. Then they spend the day together, show more pretending to make their teddies talk to one another, and by the time the day is over, they’ve become the best of friends.

The first two books of the series were pretty humorous, especially the first one. My Friend Bear still has touches of humor as Eddy and the bear pretend to give voices to their teddies. Mostly, though, this is a really sweet book about making friends. Readers got to see these two being very scared of each other in the previous books, but this time, Eddy shows a little bravery, as well as empathy for the sad, lonely bear, and it pays off in helping them both make a new friend. The illustrations are cute and express just the right amount of emotions, whether it’s sadness, fear, laughter, or caring. Overall, this entire book series has been awesome and has left me looking forward to checking out more of the author’s work. show less

A cute follow-up to the previous two books deals with loneliness and friendship. It's so fun to read out loud, even if there's no one else in the room.

While putting this book into my LibraryThing collection I was surprised to discover that a short-lived animated series based on the books had aired on British television starting in 2001 and had even generated a spin-off series of books drawn in the cartoon style. I'm almost tempted to seek them out, but I bet they're nowhere as good as Alborough's original books. It may be best to leave well enough alone.

This one if my favorite in the series. I find that it is the most personable between the two characters and shows the vulnerability of both very well. The pictures are good, giving the children an opportunity to tell the story themselves through the pictures. It warms my heart when I read this story.

This is the sequel to "Where's My Teddy?" but doesn't have its charm or originality.

Not as great as the first two (Where's My Teddy and It's the Bear), but still fun.

I chose these books because they could both also be part of the list on storyplace.org. In fact, Alborough’s book, It’s The Bear, which is part of the series, is on the site. I could not locate that particular book, so I chose these other two.

The concept that can be observed in each is size. Each also deals with rhyming/ alliteration. The hero of each is named Eddie, and in Where’s My Teddy, he is looking for his teddy, Freddie. He looks for Freddie in the woods where he discovers a giant teddy bear. This teddy belongs to a gigantic bear. Both the bear and Eddie are afraid of one another, and grab their respective and correctly sized teddies and run back to their beds.

In My Friend Bear, we see the story continued. Eddie is again show more walking in the woods with Freddie. He is lonely and wishes he had someone to talk to. He sees the giant teddy sitting alone, then hears the gigantic bear coming. He hides behind the giant teddy. The bear is sad because he is lonely and wishes he had someone to talk to. Eddie talks to the bear, and the bear thinks it is the teddy talking. When the bear realizes it is Eddie, he and Eddie become friends, and each has his own, correctly sized teddy.

The different sizes are the concept to be observed here. Obviously, the illustrations show this, and greatly exacerbate it. I was not incredibly impressed with anything about either of these books, story, concept or illustration. I liked reading the two in order. I felt that on there own, they failed to reach a good theme, which is friendship, and that friendship can come in all shapes and sizes. Together, they work. I did not feel these were the strongest examples of concept books. However, all of the books in this paper so far could be considered concept books. As I included twelve books, rather than ten, I think I have it covered. I think the two best concept books I used in this assignment have to be 1,2,3 and Animalia. Both are very obvious in their purpose, counting and the alphabet respectively. Both use a very impressive visual message to back up the idea they are trying to convey. Both use very bright colors. Both are, in my humble opinion, stellar! show less

My friend bear book is a story about friendship and how to overcome feeling sad.