Follow That Bear If You Dare! Book

Hare LOVES bears and he really wants to catch the biggest scariest one he can find. But all good bear hunts require two rabbits, so he asks a friend to join him. The charming cadence of this funny book will have children asking to hear it over and over. Ages 3 - 7.

Children's Literature

Hares don't usually hunt bears, but this British author-illustrator team tries to add some unusual touches to a bear hunt story: Hare buys a large bear-hunting manual and enlists his reluctant rabbit friend Rumbly to go along. Long, lean Hare contrasts sharply with short, chubby Rumbly as the friends set out, consulting their book every step of the way. (The forest is more cheery than scary, with its bright yellow-green foliage and purple flowers.) There is some amusing wordplay in the text, with variations on the words bear, Hare, very, hairy, and scary, but the story, moving along in suspense, suddenly falls apart when a bear does appear—unfortunately, he is hairy, but not very scary. The next scene looks as if it's from another story altogether when the chubby cub waves good-bye and pads into a cozy cottage (reminiscent of The Three Bears) for beans on toast with his smiling mother. Despite a warning in the book (shades of the fate befalling Peter Rabbit's father!), it is hard to imagine the friends would dash off in panic when the danger's already over. Maybe there is opportunity for literary discussion if listeners are familiar with the Going on a Bear Hunt game, Beatrix Potter's Peter, and the story of Goldilocks (British preschoolers may be more responsive to baked beans on toast and rabbit pie than Americans), but otherwise, this anticlimactic tale is more "Much Ado About Nothing." Reviewer: Barbara L. Talcroft