Bear Despair (Stories Without Words) Hardcover – Picture Book, September 4, 2012

The Bear has lost his teddy bear and meets all the animals in the forest trying to find it. The illustrations are delightful and the story has a lovely ending. Good book for cuddling with a very young child.

Illustrations in this book are great. I use wordless books in language teaching - the teacher tells the story out loud, while the learner listens and might ask questions. This book has repetition of a particular set of acts - stealing, chasing, swallowing - that allows good repetition of words and sentence forms, easing the understanding and learning of those forms.

This is a very lovely book that can be talked about and retold at each reading. Good way to talk about feelings.

Fun story that my preschool students loved.

Bear is peacefully snoozing away with his teddy tucked under his arm, when Wolf happens past. And wouldn't it be a funny joke to pluck out that teddy bear and fling it away as far as he can? Not to Bear. Turns out to be not so funny for Wolf either, after Bear gobbles him up as penance. With a scowl on his face, and Wolf safely tucked away in his belly, Bear starts to hunt for his teddy. He smiles when he sees that Lion has picked up the toy. Apparently Lion shares Wolf's sense of humor, because instead of returning the stuffed animal, he mocks Bear and tosses his toy over a steep cliff. For that, Lion gets gobbled up and finds himself right next to Wolf.The really brilliant part of this book is that Dorémus allows us to see the goings on inside of Bear's tummy. In no time at all, Wolf and Lion are joined by a pair of eggs (soon to hatch) gulped down as retribution from a teddy snatching bird. By the time an elephant find his way inside, Bear is quite large, his head balancing atop his mammoth body like a tiny pea. Possibly it is his fearsome size that persuades the Octopus to return his teddy. As soon as Bear is pacified, those who were eaten are now released and Bear returns to his nap.This is indeed clever, and deftly proves you don't always need to have words to understand the story being told. Just how brilliant are these illustrations? Brilliant enough to have won a spot on the New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Books of 2012.

I used this book with a group of 3 and 4 year olds and they absolutely LOVED it. The kids especially enjoyed putting words to the story, and thought the story was quite silly. It serves as a great book for discussing emotions-- we identified the different emotions they thought bear felt during the story, and discussed if we have ever felt a similar way. The sequence of events is predictable, which makes it even more fun for the kids. Since the first reading, they have asked for it over and over. The illustrations are well-done and the colors choices are excellent. There is a perfect amount of pictures in the book, so the reader is able to see the progression of events without being overloaded with pictures like other wordless picture books.

**BEAR DESPAIR... and bear anger. A POSSIBLE SPOILER**Lets cut to the chase. This is going to be one of those books that is not going to appeal to every mom/dad/teacher. The story is one where a bear is having a nice rest when a fox steals his teddy bear. Bear gives chase and almost gets his lovey back, but fox tosses it away. A lion finds it and Bear again gives chase. This continues until the end when, of course, the reader is satisfied and bear and toy are reunited.What's controversial about all this is that the angry bear swallows all the naughty animals that don't give him back his bear. He swallows the fox, and then the lion and the eagle. And like Cronus disgorging his children, the satisfied bear (having his teddy back) releases the other animals from his stomach.Now there are surely multiple ways of looking at this story. One could see the story as a way to use imagination to empower a toddler. And certainly some small fry would like to have the power to correct injustices, and otherwise get their way.However, there are probably going to be moms like me who are going to wonder if it's a good idea to expose very little children to any sort of violence and uncontrolled rage. That call, of course, should be made based on the children. Some comprehend abstracts better than others at the toddler to kindergarten age.MY THOUGHTSI wasn't crazy about  Chicken Thief  --another book in this series-- so it shouldn't be surprising that I have some hesitations about this one. But in general, I like it better than Béatrice Rodriguez' little book.The artwork though is not going to work for all children. It consists of a scratchy pen style in very muted and muddy colors. I happened to really like it, but I'm an adult and the toddlers I know happen to prefer bright colors with more contrast. [Oh, you should note that the cover doesn't fairly represent how the rest of the pages look. The teddy bear is never shown in such detail, and neither are the landscapes nor the characters.]THREE AND HALF STARS with many 'warnings'. This might be one to get from the library first. That way you can assess the artwork and the content to see if it would work with your child(ren).Pam T~

very impressive.