Five Bears. A Tale of Friendship

Bear is out walking, alone.  Then – surprise – he meets another bear, a bear who greets him. They walk on separately but a couple more bears turn up. There is no interaction; they are all different bears – until they meet a polar bear who is stuck. This is a situation that requires more than a greeting. It requires talk, planning and encouragement. Five different bears discover that being different does not mean that you cannot have a very nice day together

Any picture book by Catherine Rayner is worth attention and Five Bears is no exception. As is to be expected her use of line is dynamic and expressive while her watercolour palette brings texture and vibrant life. Each bear is certainly a bear – but each is clearly defined and recognisable; these are not teddy bears. But can they be friends, talk to each other? Here Rayner creates a subtle narrative around similarity and difference, assumptions and ideas that can hinder friendship. The text is simple and direct in its presentation. There is satisfying repetition as the procession of bears grows – first one, then two, then three, then four – at first all separate, thinking different thoughts until gradually undemanding companionship works a change from ‘different’ to ‘similar’ to the recognition that ‘We all just like each other’.

Picture books have a great deal to offer to young readers from exciting stories of derring do to direct instruction and, as here, reflective texts that through the perfect marriage of image and word allows the audience to make a connection from the imaginative to reality. Excellent.