Horrible Bear by Ame Dyckman and Zachariah Ohora (Andersen Children's Books)

Uh-oh! Someone's having a bad day, a day that starts with a kite...and a bear!
In Ame Dyckman's "Horrible Bear", with fantastic illustrations by Zachariah OHora, a little red haired girl (who, Charlotte points out, looks a LOT like mummy did when she was little) really goes off on one as her beloved yellow kite sails off out of control, straight into a bear's cave.

She goes to retrieve it. Unfortunately the bear is just waking up and has rolled over - right onto her kite, breaking it in two!

HORRIBLE BEAR! Shouts the girl, before storming off home in a complete huff.

Bear, barely recovering from the shock of having someone barge into his house shouting the odds, decides that if he's to be labelled horrible - then horrible he is going to be! He formulates a plan of revenge, to storm down the mountain, through the meadow (disturbing a poor goat and his friend's picnic lunch) and straight through the girl's front door to give her a piece of his mind.

But...you know what it's like when the red haze subsides and you realise that perhaps the person you've accused of being horrible isn't actually all that bad, and your own behaviour was pretty shoddy too. So what will happen when the two meet again?

Ame is awesome (and, let's face it folks, she has the most AWESOME hair in the business!). Her books serve up a tasty little moral tale in such a fun and brilliant way (and who can fail to love a book that is so great to read aloud - with lots of shouty "HORRIBLE BEAR" bits to join in with!)

Zach's illustrations are as fantastic as ever, and this one's destined to notch up another hit for this talented duo. Horribly good!

Charlotte's best bit: The zinger at the end of the book is perfect - almost a good excuse for a sequel?

Daddy's favourite bit: Quite a neat little moral tale and one that adults could do with reading as well as children. Temper temper!

(Kindly sent for review by Andersen Children's Books)