The Everywhere Bear

The Everywhere Bear by Julia Donaldson, illustrated by Rebecca Cobb (Pan Macmillan) HC RRP $ 24.99  ISBN 9781447280736

Reviewed by Ramona Davey

As an aspiring writer, Julia Donaldson’s new book The Everywhere Bear is my new favourite picture book.  As a trained primary teacher the subject is obvious and I can only wonder how this hadn’t been done before. Every preschool or kindy class has a bear that gets shared around week by week by each child and this is the tale in Everywhere Bear.

As the cleverly written rhyming text explains:

          The Everywhere Bear has a home on a shelf

          But he doesn’t spend very much time by himself.

          For each boy and girl in the class is a friend

          And he goes home with one of them every weekend.

Despite this, Everywhere Bear gets lost and goes to more places than he expected. The reader will follow his journey wondering if the bear will ever make it back to class.

Rebecca Cobb’s child-like watercolour and pencil crayon style illustrations make the perfect match for Julia Donaldson’s text. Rebecca and Julia have teamed up before with their book Paper Dolls if you wish to see more of their collaborations.

As a mentor text for rhyming writers, this picture book reads with ease and is worth studying.

The Everywhere Bear is perfect for the 3-6 year old that has looked forward to taking home the class bear. It covers the themes of loss, sharing and caring for a much loved toy.