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PICTURE BOOKS
David, Gauthier

Letters from Bear

56 pp. | Eerdmans | March, 2020 | Trade ISBN 978-0-8028-5536-7 $17.99
(2) K-3 Translated by Sarah Ardizzone. Illustrated by Marie Caudry. In a picture book told entirely in letters, Bear misses good friend Bird, who has migrated south for the winter, so much that Bear decides first to write to Bird every day and then to skip hibernating and come "find you on the other side of the world." The book then traces Bear's fraught journey--sometimes perilous, sometimes exhilarating, sometimes quite surreal. Arriving to find that Bird had decided to head back north to spend the winter with Bear is a temporary disappointment, but Bird's friends devise a way to expeditiously return Bear home. Bear's letters are certainly enough to hold readers' attentions ("Dear Bird, I'm writing to you from the top of a volcano. The earth is the color of night here, and the stones are scalding hot"), but it's the paintings that will keep them riveted. Whether depicting a dark forest in whose shadows huge trolls and alligator-like creatures lurk; or the chaos and noise and destruction of war; or whales blending and merging with ocean waves--the paintings tell captivating stories all on their own. (Information on the copyright page informs us that Caudry made the paintings first, and they later inspired David to write the text.) A unique picture book about friendship, adventure, and the wonders of the world.
Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2020

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