Wake Up, Bear ... It's Christmas!
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Cover Story
The illustration on our cover is from the newly-published Robert Cormier novel Beyond the Chocolate War, (Gollancz, 0 575 03711 3, £7.95). The illustration is by Caroline Binch and shows in the centre Archie Costello, Assigner of the Vigils, holding the white ball which readers of The Chocolate War will remember as all important in deciding who undertakes the assignments that are required from certain unfortunate individuals. In this sequel new characters join him and the old return to play out Archie's last term at Trinity High. We are grateful to Gollancz for help in using this illustration.
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Send to friendWake Up, Bear ... It's Christmas!
As autumn turns to winter a brown bear settles down for his winter sleep determined to wake up, this year, in time for Christmas. His clock wakes him on Christmas Eve and he goes off into the snowy woods where he finds a 'nice little pine tree'. Having decorated the tree and hung his stocking, Bear settles down with his guitar to enjoy a cosy evening alone. However he receives an unexpected visitor with a white beard and red coat. Together the pair spend a happy time and decide to make it an annual event. Obviously readers will know the identity of the bespectacled visitor although of course bear does not. A splendid read aloud in its original large hardcover edition, this story, whose text alternates between prose and verse, can now be enjoyed by solo readers in the much smaller Pocket Bear format.
