Big Bear Hug
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- $5.99
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- $5.99
Publisher Description
A huge bear is wandering through the forest - but wait a minute! Who's that he's hugging? A beaver? And a moose? And a bird? And a tree? Welcome to the world of Big Bear Hug, a contemporary fable about a bear who has an appetite for hugging everything in sight - even creatures that bears have been known to eat. One day, the benevolent bear meets up with a human. This human proceeds to do something the bear cannot understand: he raises his axe and begins to cut down a tree. Suddenly the bear doesn't feel like hugging anymore and must make a difficult decision on how to stop this destruction in his forest. The environmental message of Big Bear Hug is both funny and powerful, while simple enough to engage very young children and show them the awesome power of a hug.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Recast Ferdinand the bull as a bear living in the North Woods, with hugs filling in for flower sniffing that's a workable summation of this debut effort. While the ursine hero may look like a hulking beast, he's actually "so filled with love and happiness" that he gives out hugs wherever he goes whether the recipient asked for one or not ("He even hugged creatures that bears have been known to eat"). And even more than hugging animals, the bear loves to hug trees. But when a woodsman threatens "one of the tallest, oldest, and most beautiful trees in the forest," will the bear revert to type? Oldland's rustic-styled digital artwork looks like a hip flannel pajama print (which is probably no coincidence, given that he's creative director at an apparel company), and his pictures play sly comic foil to the earnest text. Ages 3 7.