Letters from Bear

by Gauthier David, Marie Caudry (Illustrator)

Overview

Bear can’t imagine a whole winter without her friend, so when Bird migrates south, Bear decides to follow. She’s never left the forest before, but that won’t stop her from crossing oceans and mountains—and sending letters along the way. But a surprise is waiting for Bear on the beach… 

Richly told in amusing letters and lush illustrations, this adventurous story invites readers to consider just how far they’d go for their friends.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780802855367
Publisher:	Eerdmans, William B. Publishing Company
Publication date:	03/24/2020
Pages:	56
Product dimensions:	8.40(w) x 10.90(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	610L (what's this?)
Age Range:	5 - 9 Years

About the Author

Gauthier David is a children's author, illustrator, and singer-songwriter. He has collaborated on several books with his partner Marie Caudry. Letters from Bear is their English-language debut. Gauthier and Marie live with their children in the Drôme, France, at the edge of a forest where they can sometimes see wolves. Visit his website at gogocosmos.free.fr.

Marie Caudry is a graduate of the Fine Arts School of Bordeaux and has illustrated a number of books. Three days before the birth of their child Arto, Marie began a series of paintings about globe-trotting bears-and these paintings inspired Gauthier to write the story of Letters from Bear. Visit Marie's website at mariecaudry.free.fr or follow her on Instagram @mariecaudry.

Editorial Reviews

★ 2020-01-12
When migratory Bird wings off for the winter, devoted Bear undertakes a long and perilous journey to follow.

In a series of letters entrusted to the wind, Bear records each stage of the trek. It begins with a venture into scary, dark woods, then goes on to record: Bear's rescue from a fisherman's net by a mermaid, the ursine's narrow escape from a battle between two mounted armies, a desert crossing, an odd but pleasant respite at a squirrel's 100th birthday party, and other experiences. These culminate in an ocean crossing and landfall at last on a tropical island—where Bear discovers that Bird has already flown off northward. Caudry's illustrations actually preceded and inspired the storyline. In them she depicts an animistic landscape in which cliff faces in one scene are actually faces, ocean waves become whales at second glance, and creatures met along the way are often extravagantly costumed or sport chimerical features. For all its simple phrasing, the epistolary narrative is infused with longing ("I'm so excited at the idea of being near you. / It fills me with courage. / Your Bear isn't very far away now!"). By leaving both the relationship and the genders of the two principals unspecified, the narrative allows for a broad range of readings. Occasional human figures among the largely animal cast are uniformly light skinned.

Readers will find this journey poignant, strange, atmospheric, and, ultimately, joyful. (Picture book. 6-8)

Kirkus Reviews