Bear Against Time

by Jean-Luc Fromental, Joëlle Jolivet (Illustrator)

Overview

Readers can learn how to tell time and why it matters with this cleverly humorous new picture book from the best-selling creators of 365 Penguins.

Bear can’t tell time and it’s causing chaos for the human family he lives with. He botches breakfast, he’s late for school, he swaps music with gym class, and he misses lunch, too. When his time-management skills land him in a sticky situation, the family decides enough is enough. Using a 12-piece pizza pie, they teach Bear how to read a clock. Suddenly, time is on Bear’s side: he’s punctual, aces his classes, and fills his schedule with volunteer work and sports practices. But it isn’t long before this bear begins to burn out....

Jean-Luc Fromental’s engaging writing and Joëlle Jolivet’s signature retro design combine in this lighthearted and accessible book on the importance and how-tos of telling time.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781324011354
Publisher:	Norton Young Readers
Publication date:	02/16/2021
Pages:	48
Product dimensions:	8.90(w) x 11.40(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	AD510L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Jean-Luc Fromental has created numerous internationally acclaimed children’s books, including Oops!, Bonesville, and 365 Penguins, which was a Boston Globe–Horn Book Honor book. He lives in France.

Jean-Luc Fromenthal and Joëlle Jolivet are the creators of numerous internationally acclaimed children’s books, including Oops!, Bonesville, and 365 Penguins, which received the Boston Globe–Horn Book Honor. Follow Joëlle on Instagram @jolivetjoelle.

Editorial Reviews

2020-12-25
A bear’s life is in shambles until he learns to tell time.

Bear, large and orange, oversleeps on the top bunk. On the bottom bunk, an orange-haired child wakes and stretches. Bear’s human family (all of whom present White) has a morning routine, but Bear’s constantly late. He misses breakfast and the school bus; at school, he misses classes and lunch. Bear “will never learn how to read, count, or write,” warns the text. “The problem…is that Bear cannot tell time.” He’s so hungry from missing meals that he steals pastry and goes to jail. Family love is conditional: “If you do that again, we will not be able to keep you,” threatens Dad. Nitty-gritty clock-reading lessons from Dad in two 10-paneled spreads do succeed—after a terrifying double-page spread of Bear’s clock-dominated nightmares (including visual references to Harold Lloyd, Charlie Chaplin, and Salvador Dalí). Now able to tell time, Bear deserves gifts and fabulous extracurricular activities, the latter ultimately leading to burnout, a vacation in the mountains (or maybe it’s a sanatorium?), and—bafflingly—Bear’s return with a spouse and children of his own (was he not a child in the original family?). There’s a difference between simply not having learned yet to tell time and struggling with a sense of time, but here they blend, hitting neuroatypical readers hard with threats of banishment and conditional rewards. Jolivet’s comics-style illustrations highlight orange, blue, and yellow with black outlines.

This French import is meant to be funny, but beneath its lightheartedness beats a cold heart. (Picture book. 5-8)

Kirkus Reviews