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MNHQ

Book giveaway: I Am Bear

21 replies

UrsulaMumsnet · 01/02/2016 15:44

This is Bear! He was bare. Now he's wearing … purple hair? His favourite thing is playing tricks. He makes trouble just for kicks! Check out Bear before he's gone. Rhyme along – come along!

Meet the cheeky rebel hero of the forest in I Am Bear – the new picture book by actor Ben Bailey Smith and storyboard artist Sav Akyüz. This rap-style, read-aloud picture book features a loveable but mischievous purple rapping bear who can do anything.

Walker books have asked us to find 30 Mumsnetters to read I Am Bear with their children and tell us what they think about it on this discussion thread.
Go to the giveaway page to find out more, download fun activities, watch a video and apply for a free copy.

You don't have to win a free copy to take part in the discussion. Anyone who has read I Am Bear can post their feedback here, and all who post before 21st March will be entered into a prize draw to win a £100 Love2Shop voucher.

OP posts:

LizMay29 · 16/02/2016 11:15

This is a nice hard back book with lovely bright illustrations. The story/rhymes don't particularly flow but that could be as it's a rap. My son enjoyed listening to it.

Cineraria · 16/02/2016 11:46

Bear arrived with us about twenty minutes ago and is already a big hit!

DS (19 weeks) knew as soon as I opened it that it was something he wanted and started squawking to the cover and doing a rubbing and smacking thing to it that he usually only does to me when feeding! The yellow background helps as he's a huge fan of anything yellow and even talks to our yellow curtains but he was enthusiastic throughout the entire story. The bright pictures and the rhythm of the words really caught and kept his attention. He let us read it to him a second time and he's not done that before with other books. He usually just tolerates us reading to him, I think. He has just fallen into a lovely deep sleep for his nap after all the excitement so I give it top marks too and DH thinks it's hilarious that bear paints a target on a lady bear's bottom, so it's a winner all round at our house!

Seriously, though, it's great to find a book he really likes and it's not one I think I'd have chosen for him myself until he was old enough to understand and find the tricks funny. Now I know his taste, I'm going to look for some similar ones to read to him. Thanks so much for the chance to try it!

MrsRedWhite214 · 16/02/2016 18:28

The size of the book and pictures are great but I struggled to get the rhythm and rhyme of the words right. It didn't flow as easily as some other books. My son was more interested in talking about the pictures rather than following the story but did have a chuckle at the squirrel.

Joopy · 16/02/2016 23:13

My 2 year old loved the book and it kept his attention (which doesn't always happen!). The combination of bold colours and simple drawings make it very pleasing to look at. It was good for encouraging my ds to interact and speak. He enjoyed pointing at the bees and the rabbit and shouting 'bear.' He also giggled when the bear says 'boo!'
The rhyming doesn't quite work but maybe because I was reading slowly and pausing on each page to look at the pictures.
I would recommend it.

Clawdy · 17/02/2016 13:29

My two grandsons, three and five, were staying with us for a sleepover and this book went down brilliantly. They both loved the humour and the naughtiness of Bear, and the funny rap video was an added bonus, the three year old insisted on playing it over and over until he could sing along with it. A great success in our house.

Amaksy · 17/02/2016 21:19

Picked up my copy from the post office today as too big to fit through letterbox. Thanks for the book, had a look and was already giggling at bare bottom and purple hair.

My son liked the colourful pages and follows when I'm reading.

BlackSusie2004 · 17/02/2016 21:54

Thank you for the I Am Bear book, it's been a big hit in our household! A lovely, funny picture book with a risqué picture of a bare bear bottom right at the start, which showed us pretty much what sort of book we had opened! Bear is cheeky and mischievous, and best of all, wears a purple suit! The pictures are bright and colourful and we had great fun discussing them all.
A great addition to our library!

Starman16 · 17/02/2016 22:21

My son is only 4 months but he has been really captivated by the book - the bold illustrations really hold his attention, and the fact that the book is big also helps as he doesn't get distracted so much by his surroundings.

I love rhyming books, it took a couple of reads to get the meter right with this one but I like it and imagine once my son is older it will give lots of opportunity for interaction.

As a final note...genuinely LOLed at the bare bear when I opened the book

ahigney · 18/02/2016 10:09

What a lovely book with great ,bright pictures.My daughter thought it was very funny ,and I love to see her smiling and even giggling!Great debut.

Pigeonpea · 18/02/2016 13:02

We loved this book, it made us giggle, then we accessed the music video, which is just awesome! We danced to it, sang to it, did tidy time to it, then my toddler took the book and the video and followed the pages and words on her own. Fantastic!

MrsWoody85 · 18/02/2016 13:30

Bright and colourful illustrations which captivated my 9 month old. The rap style rhyming made the book unique amongst our other stories. I would say this book is definitely worth purchasing. There are lots of elements to it which I can imagine will create some discussions when she's older.

mdmamma · 19/02/2016 18:05

Thank you very much for our free copy which arrived today!

The illustrations are lovely, bold and bright.

As with other reviewers, I struggled with the rhyme. It flows really well at the start but you need to read it a few times to get the rhythm.

The video really helps and my LO was mesmerised by the video before taking an interest in the book.

I like that this book suits a large age range as the illustrations are bold, bright and colourful enough to engage very young little people but the cheeky element of it will entertain older kids.

My toddler tends to engage more with longer, detailed stories but this is a fun and lighthearted short read. Thank you!

katiewalters · 19/02/2016 20:52

My 2 year old enjoyed this book. It was simple and the perfect length for young ones. The illustrations were bright and kept my daughters attention and we liked the rhymes. My 6 year old also read it himself, and he made reference to the words bear and bare, which sound the same, but are spelt differently and mean different things, so that got us thinking about other words like that. We thought bear was a bit naughty, but we couldn't help but like him.

lemonsmum · 20/02/2016 19:54

My 3 year old really likes this book we've read it every night since we got it. Her favourite part is when he does his magic trick she follows the instructions and laughs. It is a lovely hardback book with large bright illustrations.

merliquin · 24/02/2016 14:20

Thanks for the book!

I was really excited about receiving this book as I'm a fan of Doc Brown's comedy and was looking forward to sharing his humour with my kids. I was not disappointed; I Am Bear was an instant hit.

My 6, 3 and 1 1/2 year olds were laughing out loud from the start to the end. The book has all the necessary ingredients for a hit story in our house: bare bottoms, 'knock knock' jokes, a big "Boo!" and doughnuts - what's not to love?

The illustrations are bold and bright enough to hold the attention of the youngest but Sav Akyuz's images also work perfectly alongside the words to bring the humour alive. My 6 year old picked up on the smaller details such as the bees' angry expressions. I thought the way the illustrations were used to change the meaning of Bear's words from innocent to anything but, was very clever .

After reading, we then had to watch the video (again & again & again...) and they all went to bed singing it to themselves (again & again & again...).

It has taken a while for me to write this review as my 18 month old insists on watching the video whenever he sees the picture of Bear (at the top of this thread).

Basically, this book is a winner and holds the interest of my toddler/pre-school/primary aged children which is great. I look forward to seeing what the book's creators come up with next.

hanliying · 04/03/2016 14:10

the illustrations and colors are wonderful. The size of the book is a bit too big for my 2 year old. It is a funny book and great for bed time reading.

Elliecherry · 08/03/2016 08:25

Thank you for the book!

My 1&4 year old enjoy reading this. We loved the bright bold pictures, and it kept their attention as it isn't too long.
It took a few times reading it to get into the rhythm of it, but we like that it rhymes and enjoyed the story of it.
My 1 year old watched the music video of it this morning and loved it! We watched it quite a few times. It's a book they enjoy - thank you!

MunazzahNaeem · 09/03/2016 19:50

Lovely book with bright, really colorful illustrations. The rhymes are a bit naughty and fun, and it's really nicely done with little text on each page accompanied by great illustrations - the perfect recipe for a book aimed at smaller children.
Only downside is the lack of a story line - it's essentially just a bunch of random things happening.
Also love it's size, nice and large.

Sunflower22 · 11/03/2016 13:48

I have a one and a four year old. The 1 year old liked the bright colours but the four year old did not quite enjoy the rhymes. Rather difficult to read and I don't think it's quite age appropriate.

SallySwann · 15/03/2016 20:02

Thank you for my copy. This is a very quick read, so quick that it won't really do for a bedtime story. It is very simple, but has a video which can be viewed online which has the story as a kind of rap piece which my grandchildren found hilarious. They love the book too and the double meaning of bear/bare. My seven year old granddaughter loves to read it - to everybody no matter how young or old for that matter! Good fun.

MazAb · 25/03/2016 08:27

My 2 year old twin nephews did enjoy this book but I found that the rhymes didn't really work. They enjoyed the colourful pictures, but they are currently dinosaur mad so only want to read dinosaur books!!

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