The Bear who Stared by Duncan Beedie (Templar Publishing)

We love books that become part of our everyday conversations - and book characters that also worm their way into our collective consciousness when certain things happen at home or out and about...
In Duncan Beedie's "The Bear Who Stared" we meet the fellah to the left there, a big friendly old bear with a problem...

He just cannot stop staring!

Now, this is fine when you're staring lovingly at yourself in the mirror at home, or you're staring at your lovely clock on your lovely mantlepiece - but when you're walking through the forest and can't stop staring at other folk, well that's not very nice at all is it.

But bear just can't help himself...

He stares...and stares...

AND STARES!

Quite offputting if you're a family of ladybirds who just want a quiet picnic...!

How rude!

But bear has a problem. He's not staring because he's rude, he's actually staring because he's painfully shy - and doesn't always have the right thing to say. But a wise frog may help bear overcome his problem and realise that staring at people can sometimes be seen as uncomfortable behaviour.

At the top of our review I mentioned that this book and that bear have managed to become a huge talking point. We were out at the weekend enjoying a lovely lunch when Charlotte leaned over and whispered something to me. "That man behind you is the bear who stared!" she quietly said. She was right, just over my shoulder was a man who seemed endlessly fascinated by what we were doing (eating lunch) and stared at us the whole time. "Now you know how the ladybirds felt!" I told her, and Charlotte nodded quietly. Love it when things like that happen because of a book!

Charlotte's favourite bit: When Bear meets Frog and learns precisely why it's actually quite rude to stare.

Daddy's favourite bit: An instant hit, a brilliantly funny book with quite an important message at its heart. Maybe it might help your little ones stop staring when they go out? You never know!

(Kindly sent to us for review by Templar Publishing).

"The Bear who Stared"

Written and Illustrated by Duncan Beedie

Published by Templar Publishing. 

Publication Date: 1st February 2016