The Very Cranky Bear by Nick Bland

Rating: 5 out of 5
Hardcover
Publisher: Scholastic (2008)
ISBN-10: 0545172241
ISBN-13: 978-0545172240
Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 9.2 x 0.2 inches

First Sentence: "In the Jingle Jangle Jungle on a cold and rainy day, four little friends found a perfect place to play."

Love, love, loved this book.

Four friends try to find a safe place out of the rain to play, and encounter a very cranky bear. They then set about trying to make the bear happy. The writing is clear and in verse. This makes it great to read a loud and there are a few well placed illustrative roars to throw in there.

The illustrations are just beautiful. Children will delight in the pictures (so will the parents) that are vibrant and extremely detailed. The Author is also the illustrator and he did an amazing job anthropomorphising the animals and capturing their expressions, personalities and moods.

On a deeper level this book simply deal with issues like problem solving, negotiation, thinking outside the box, and most importantly caring for others. Instead of pulling a prank on the bear or getting revenge the four friends try to work out why the bear is angry and how they can cheer him up. However this is not a serious book and the words along with the pictures make it quite humorous. When the bear comes out of the cave, he looks so silly you cant help but laugh.

My 8 month old loved looking at the pictures and enjoyed the roar noises. He absolutely loved this book but I think I liked it more :) I would definitely recommend this book to anyone with young children.

Extras
Here is a youtube video of a book reading of The Very Cranky Bear