The Horn Book Guide

PICTURE BOOKS

Dumont, Jean-François

I Am a Bear

40 pp. | Eerdmans | September, 2015 | Trade ISBN 978-0-8028-5447-6 $16.00

(2) K-3 Translated by Leslie Mathews. A bear lives in a nest of cardboard and newspaper on a city street. He describes his challenges: hunger, apathy of passersby, and inadvertently inciting fear in others. His life changes when a girl sees him for what he really is--"You look like a teddy bear"--and begins to visit him daily. The painterly art features off-kilter perspectives--exactly right for a story about dislocation.

Reviewer: Nell Beram | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2015