The Boy Who Was Brought Up by Teddy Bears

Believing him to be ‘all alone in the world’, three teddy bears adopt a baby they find in the woods and bring him up. In the tradition of feral children of legend, the baby grows up believing himself to be a teddy bear (he walks like one and growls like one although he can’t quite manage the leg swivelling) and he is reluctant, when reclaimed by his mother on his fourth birthday, to become a boy – until she gives him ‘the biggest bear hug he’d ever had’. Being lost and then found has great meaning for younger readers and this is an amusingly original picture book take on this powerful theme. All ends well when we discover that the mother has long been searching for her lost son and that she is prepared to extend her maternal affections to include the three kindly bears who have nurtured her son. Varley’s sketchy, unpretentious line and wash illustrations complement the story with warmth.