Nightbear

The little yellow bear has led a tough life.  Given to children who don’t love him, he is donated to a charity shop where he sits on a shelf for years.  When a little girl buys him for 50 pence, he is delighted, and when they get home, he discovers she has six other bears, each of whom has a special job in the little girl’s life. Some of these jobs are difficult, not to say dangerous!  Frank has to do stunts and is thrown up in the air, Betty Blue must ride on the back seat of the little girl’s bike and is often thrown off.  All the bears lead a very active life, whether it is being dressed up or dancing, but the little yellow bear doesn’t have a job at all.  This is sad for him, until he realises that all the other bears are too tired to be awake for her at night.  She tells him stories and cuddles him, and one night when she is sick, he is there for her, to the point of getting some sick on his fur and having to be washed in the washing machine.  He tells us he doesn’t mind, and now he is happy because he has a special job; he is Nightbear.  The cover of this lovely picture book has night-time sparkle as well as a picture of the little girl cuddling her Nightbear, and the illustrations are a jolly treat.  Full of messy pictures of the little girl doing all sorts of dire and wonderful things with her teddies, they epitomise how children play with their best-loved toys.  And the little girl’s expressive face when she wakes from a frightening dream is spot on.  Everyone should have a Nightbear!