posted on 06 Feb 2016

Three Bears. (Part two)

Having already written about the undisputed superstar bears, Winnie the Pooh, Paddington and Rupert, it was quite an undertaking to select worthy contenders to be in the next cohort. To be honest, it wasn't exactly a chore to trawl through my collection but took much longer than I planned as I kept finding more and more. There are an awful lot of children's books about bears!

I decided to narrow the field by dismissing all teddy bear characters this time and to concentrate my mind on real bears. So I have at last settled on the final three: Mr Bear who appears in a series of wonderful picture books by Chizuko Kuratomi illustrated by Kozo Kakimoto; George the main protagonists in Bears don't read! by Emma Chichester Clark and the un named bear in The Bear and the Piano by David Litchfield. All have one thing in common in that they are living, at least temporarily, in non bear worlds with varying success. 

Mr Bear is a fuzzy vague burly character depicted beautifully in soft, warm watercolours. He usually wears a very tiny hat and a practical long waistcoat. For an undisclosed reason he is living in Rabbit Town where he seems to be regarded with affection despite his blundering often clumsy ways. He seems to be very happy to turn his hand / paw to anything from playing the bass drum in the town band to becoming the temporary captain of a boat. He is fully integrated into the world of rabbits whilst maintaining his essential beariness. 

George is a wide eyed, gigantic grizzly bear with a rather worried expression painted using Chichester Clark's distinctive vivid colours. He at first appears to be far less civilised than Mr Bear and it takes him some time to convince the people in the story that he isn't a threat. He is also a philosophical sort who needs to find meaning in the world:

 'Oh , life is lovely, he thought. Tra- la -la and all that! But is this it?' He wondered. 'Is this all there is?'

One day, strolling through the forest he finds a book about bears lying beneath a tree and is intrigued. Inspired to learn to read he declares that he is off to town, despite warnings from his bear family and friends that ' They don't like bears in town'. Sure enough, when he arrives there eager to learn to read, everyone starts running and screaming. Looking baffled,  he makes his way to the school and soon the riot police arrive to deal with him. Fortunately for George, the discerning little girl Clementine offers to take responsibility for him as he has returned the book she had lost. In fact she is delighted to do so as he looks just like the bear character in the story. As in all the good children's books - her mother is equally keen to take custody of the animal and he goes to live with them. Eventually with their patient help he learns to read and the rest of the people in the town come to trust him, including the Chief of Police who likes reading poetry with him. This bear has eventually become integrated through a shared love of culture, although he doesn't seem to worry about wearing clothes.

My third bear finds a piano in the forest when he is just a young cub and over the years he teaches himself to play the instrument. Fully grown, he is a big strong grizzly bear, by far the tubbiest of the three and with a cuddly teddy bear quality about his appearance. Like George, he is also a dreamer and a bit of a misfit in his world and he makes the very difficult decision to go to the city with a girl and her father who happen to discover his unusual musical talent. He is certainly the most adventurous of the three bears and goes to find fame and fortune in a far away place that looks very alien. He becomes a big tuxedo wearing star, wins awards, and meets lots of interesting people, but he can't forget the forest and his homesickness becomes so bad that he has to go back. There, still wearing the tuxedo , he gives the most important performance of his life surrounded by naked bear family and friends. 

In my other piece about bears, I tried to imagine them having an adventure together. I'm not sure that would work for these three because they have such different backgrounds and purposes in life. Maybe their stories tell us something about the importance of home and family and also the need to welcome strangers into our communities and recognise what positive things they can bring. But most importantly, these are three very memorable Bear personalities that deserve recognition.

Karen Argent

5th February 2016