Review - Bear With Me

Bear With Me
by Noemi Vola
Date: 2017
Publisher: Eerdmans Books for Young Readers
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 48
Format: e-book
Source: library

What do you do with a bear who won’t leave? When a bear comes to stay, no one expects him to stay too long! But his arrival changes everything, from sleeping to shopping to hanging out with friends. If even dinosaurs and math problems can’t drive him away, what are you supposed to do?

Featuring quirky, energetic illustrations, this amusing tale suggests we can learn to live with even the most unbearable company.

(synopsis from Goodreads)

Wow. Wow. Is this seriously what passes for a good children's picture book these days?

A bear breaks into a guy's house and then won't leave. The guy spends the rest of the book talking about how much he hates the bear and even contemplates suicide because it would be easier.

Seriously?

I think the author just enjoyed drawing bears and thought it would be funny to have a bear crash a man's life. Well, living where that actually can happen, let me tell you that it's not funny at all. In fact, a book like this given to children in this area would either scare the crap out of them or make it seem like a bear crashing into your house and eating all your food is just hunky-dory.

I can't even recommend this for the illustrations. They're all monochromatic, the bear is barely ursine, and the some of the pages are extremely chaotic.

Yet another book about bears for my "never-give-to-a-child" shelf. *sigh*

Premise: 1/5
Meter: n/a
Writing: 2/5
Illustrations: 2/5
Originality: 1/5

Enjoyment: 1/5

Overall: 1.33 out of 5