Tuesday, December 11, 2012

The sniffles for bear by Bonny Becker illustrated by Kady MacDonald Denton


This book is the fourth in a series  and I just love them all.   There are two characters - Bear and his persistent neighbour, Mouse.  In this installment Bear is very ill with a cold.  "His eyes were red. His snout was red.  His throat was sore and gruffly.  In fact,  Bear was quite sure no one had ever been as ill as he was."

As one reviewer comments  : Welcome the world's most lovable curmudgeon and his endearing, unstoppable sidekick

The cheerful little Mouse bursts into Bear's house and declares he will soon make him well but Bear is the ultimate hypochondriac and he does not want to be made better.  He is revelling in his illness and just wants peace and quiet and lots of sympathy but Mouse is having none of that.  He tries reading to Bear, singing a happy song, playing the banjo and making soup.  Bear is so ill he thinks he is going to die.  He declares that he needs to make a will so Mouse obliges and fetches a pen and paper so he can record Bear's wishes.

Bears leaves his roller skates, mop and wash bucket to Mouse.   Worn out and full of nourishing soup Bear eventually falls asleep and when he wakes up he discovers he has not died and in fact he feels much better.  Mouse on the other hand has watery eyes and he is making sniffling sounds so Bear thoughtfully helps Mouse into bed where he falls asleep.

You can read more about this book here.  We have all the books in this endearing series in our school library.

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