We're going on a Bear Hunt....all is made clear...!

[Clawdy]

Just read an interview with Helen Oxenbury the illustrator,and she said the one everyone thinks is the dad is actually the older brother...they are ALL children.

[FeckOffCup]

I always thought the oldest "boy" was the dad and the blonde female the mum, although she does look quite young. DD agrees, she always says "oh no poor mummy" on the page where the blonde one falls in the forest.

[piprabbit]

You'll have to wait for the next time I visit my parents - I think they still have the book tucked away somewhere never knowingly thrown anything out

[smokeybacon]

Ooh interesting. Will read it to ds2 tonight. MY interpretation of the book is that the younger kids were being read a story by dad(or big brother) and they are acting out the story ,hence them all being under the covers at the end. They were just play acting the bear hunt. It's a much nicer way of looking at one rather awful production seen where the family return to the holiday home where their mother died and go on this ill advised adventure.

[nickelrocketgoBooooooom]

ahhhh.

that adds something to my knowledge.

well done Helen for clearing that up!

all children, no parents

[AudrinaAdare]

No coat - of course!

[TiggyD]

I want to know how and why they go bearfoot through a river and area of mud when it's cold enough for snow?

[TwelveLeggedWalk]

Is this the article in the grauniad? It's online if anyone else wants to read it.

[PrinceRogersNelson]

This is quite interesting about how the author and illustrator had different ideas of the book

www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/nov/05/how-we-made-bear-hunt?INTCMP=SRCH

[PrinceRogersNelson]

ooh xposts

[ChestnutsRoastingonaWitchesTit]

Really?

This puts a whole new slant on things.

Can someone do an interview with Judith Kerr now and get to the bottom of just who is the tiger meant to be in The Tiger Who Came to Tea?

[Thisisaeuphemism]

What?! I thought it was Dad AND Mum. Woefully unobservant here.

[Thisisaeuphemism]

Judith Kerr is quoted as saying, "Sometimes a tiger is just a tiger," in a reference to Freud's "sometimes a cigar is just a cigar," I think.

[confuddledDOTcom]

We're going on a bear hunt!
We're gonna catch a big one!
I'm not afraid!
Are you?
Not me!

Here comes the gate
Now we're on a bear hunt
We're gonna catch a big one
I'm not afraid
Are you?
Not me!

We're coming to a tall mountain
It sure is high
It sure is wide
Let's climb up it
Well, there's nothing over there
Nothing over there
Nothing back there
Hey! Wait! I think I see something
Quick! Everybody run down!

Chorus

We're going thru the tall grass
We're going thru the short grass
Hey! Look! There's a little tree
Well, let's shinny on up it
Whoa! It gets a little skinny up here at the top
See anything over that way?
Anything over that way?, Uh, oh!,
Oh, no! Whoa! Agh! let's get down!

Chorus

Oh, no!
It's a big puddle of mud
Can't go around it
Gotta go right thru it
Yeuk!
Well, let's go.
Squish, Sqwish, Blaaahh.

Chorus

We're coming to a wide river
And there's no bridge going over it
No tunnel going under it
It's just plain old water
And we're gonna have to swim
All right, dive in!
Start swimming
Do the back stroke
Do the side stroke
Do the doggie paddle
Try the little cat paddle
OK Jump out, shake yourself off

Chorus

Shhh, it's a cave
Looks like the kind of cave that B-bears live in
I don't know if I want to go in there
You think we oughta go in?
Are you nuts?
There's probably a bear in there
All right I'll go in, You stay here,
And if I find a bear, I'll come out and get you
And we'll all go in and grab him together
Now, quiet, don't make a sound while I'm in that cave,
Cuz if you wake him up, I'll be in trouble
Bears are awful ornery when they first wake up, you know
OK, I'm going on in
Oooo, It's dark in here
It's really dark in here
I can't see a thing
Agh, there's spiders webs
Ooo, what was that???
What's this??.... it's soft, uh oh,it's kind of fuzzy

Ahg!!!!!!!!! Run! Everybody run!!
I saw a bear!!!!
Jump in the water! Swim fast!!
Do the backstroke!
The sidestroke, the doggie paddle
Jump out of the water
Run through the mud!
Forget the tree!!
Go through the tall grass
The short grass
Quick! Go up the mountain
Down the other side
Go thru the gate
Into the house, under the bed
Under the pillow
Hide!!!!!
Uh, it's awful quiet around here
I'm not afraid
I'm not afraid
Are you?
Are you?

[ChestnutsRoastingonaWitchesTit]

I love the idea that "we can't go over it, we can't go under it...oh no, we've got to go through it!"

It's become a family motto in our house for when things are hard to bear

[BRANdishingMistletoe]

I never thought he was the dad. He looks, dresses and acts like a uni student IMO.

[MrsJamin]

I hope you've all seen the . It's just wonderful. It's impossible to say "oh no!" in the story now without using his accent! Or do the dupdupdupdup noise of going up the stairs.

[MrsJamin]

and yes I never thought that was a brother - how odd.

[Coconutfeet]

Well, well well.

Pedallleur - ds also used to cry because he felt so sad for the bear in that final picture.

[notso]

Four DC on a bear hunt and no bickering, mine can't even choose a yoghurt without a full blown row.

[MarianForrester]

Am relieved; thought relationship Not Right Hate the book though- tedious and poor bear.

[MarianForrester]

And notso

[nickelrocketgoBooooooom]

We did it at story time yesterday.

I started it in a whisper, showing that actually, we were a bit scared and pretending not to be.

each scenario, we got braver and louder, until the last one where we were nearly as big and scary as the bear.
then we saw the bear and were scared again

that's the beauty, isn't it, that we can be as imaginative as we want to be!

[DeWe]

So the illustator is basically telling us that she didn't draw the big boy very well, and made him look too old?

[TheCeejOfWinterfell]

That twatting book scared my DD so much it had to live in the freezer (a la Joey in Friends)