Stranger In The Forest

“What you need to remember is that this is an adventure and all the best adventures have little bits of all sorts of things in them.”
“Like what?” asked Honeybear.
“Like being daring and doing unexpected things. And feeling excitement and danger and seeing new places and making new friends and doing new things.”

In the first story in the series, we meet Honeybear, an orphan bear living alone in the forest. She’s rather lonely and a bit timid, but delighted when she meets a mysterious stranger. He’s an escaped gorilla without a name, who she invites to stay for a while. She calls him Gerumph.

Unlike Honeybear, Gerumph is adventurous, but sometimes gets into trouble. When winter comes he enjoys sliding on the frozen pond but one day the ice breaks. He falls into the freezing water and can’t get back out. Very quickly, Honeybear has to work out how to save her new best friend.

When spring arrives in the forest, a grateful Gerumph tries to think of an adventure he can share with Honeybear, something she will enjoy. That’s when the idea comes to him: a trip back to his old home at the zoo – if only he can remember the way.

And if they manage to meet up with some of the animals, Honeybear and Gerumph must hope they are not discovered by the keepers, because if they are, they will be forced to flee in a desperate race to keep their freedom and avoid being captured.