this little bear could be yours!
To celebrate the publication of Muffin and the Birthday Surprise paperback edition today, I have this little picture of Muffin – hand-panted by me – to give as a prize…
All you have to do is answer this question:
Who is your favourite bear in all of children’s fiction?
(don’t worry – I don’t mean one of mine!)
Get in touch via the comments box below. I’ll put the answers in a hat and pull out a winner by the end of the day. There are some signed copies of the book, too, for the runners-up.
I’ll sign the picture of course, or I could add a dedication to a small cub of your choice (it would make a lovely piece for a child’s bedroom, I think).
Good luck!
The Bear in ‘We Are Going on a Bear Hunt’ he looks so lonely at the end you just want to give home a hug
That is SUCH a good choice. Yes, his touching back view as he lumbers back into his cave… genius!
Very cute!
As for my favourite bear, it’s Pooh. Undoubtedly Pooh. He’s a very superior kind of bear. And also the Russian version, as once described in a wonderful radio programme by Michael Rosen (and no, I don’t speak a word of Russian, but thankfully someone has subtitled it on YouTube).
I’ll be definitely looking that up. Ah, the inimitable Pooh. His conversations with Piglet are one THE high points in all of literature! Being stuck in Rabbit’s front door is my favourite moment… or maybe being fooled by their own footsteps in the snow… yours??
We LOVE your bears and are looking forward to getting to know them better! Picking an all-time favourite is difficult as there are so many….
Mick Inkpen’s Baggy Brown has always been popular here, but I think if pressed, we’d have to plump for Paddington.
Congratulations on the latest publication, Muffin is amazing and we have lots of little fingers crossed here.
Keep up the good work 🙂
Thank you so so much for the kind comments about my bears! It’s really appreciated.
Two top bears there – and Paddington is, truly, in a class of his own. Interesting that his illustrator Peggy Fortnum absolutely MADE him who he is, with his shambolic appearance and marvellous attire, but is so much less well known than Michael Bond. But I would notice that, wouldn’t I!!
You truly are an encyclopaedia of fictional bears!
This is a great thread, enjoying reading all the other choices and looking forward to renewing acquaintances with one or two forgotten favourites.
I am honoured to be thought as such! Yes, there’s some brilliant choices here.
I NEARLY met a real bear once – in a forest in Canada – and I was hysterically afraid. It was on the path ahead of us, according to a walker coming the other way. We shouted and made a fuss, and by the time we got there it had gone away. I sort of regret it, though…
Ahh… perhaps Baloo. But for a 21st century bear I have a soft spot for Katie Cleminson’s Otto. Oh, and I can’t leave out Little Bear, drawn by Maurice Sendak for Elsa Holmelund Minarik’s books. And Eric Carle’s Brown Bear Brown Bear – the first book I bought for my 1st child. Hmm. Very difficult to choose. A whole sleuth of bears to choose from…
Brilliant! A bear bonanza there…
Baloo and his low-slung bottom – pure bliss…
Otto is a top choice because he’s a new-ish bear – so I’m putting Otto in the hat too. AND the other two.
It’s SO hard to choose!
Gosh, what a lovely question! I’d have to agree with the choices of the Bear in ‘We’re going on a Bear Hunt’, and Winnie the Pooh. Pooh bear is so lovely. I’ve always loved the story when he and Piglet bring birthday presents to Eeyore – a jar of honey, which Pooh eats, and a balloon, which Piglet pops. The great thing is that everything turns out fine and Eeyore is so happy with an empty jar and a balloon he can put in and take out..
Can I have a non-book bear too? I have to admit to a worrying crush on Bear in the Big Blue House! He is so big and cuddly and reassuring and kind – brilliant in the video about potty training, which I watched over and over again with my two youngest.
Oh – and I’ve just remembered the bears from ‘Can’t you sleep, little bear?’ Lovely!
Sorry – I’m not cheating – honest – but I HAD to add Paddington Bear. I can’t believe I forgot him. I have cried laughing reading his books – I remember being in bed ill as a child and finding him so funny I completely forgot my illness. I would LOVE to create a character as memorable (even though I forgot him just now) and I will always think fondly of marmalade sandwiches, duffle coats, hats and shopping trolleys…
Fantastic answers, Anne!
How funny you should say, because Eeyore’s birthday rather influenced Muffin and the Birthday Surprise. I didn’t mean it to – it is just so iconic.
I don’t know Bear from the Big Blue House – is that an embarrassing thing to admit?? – but he sounds like my kind of man, I mean bear, too…
Paddington is emerging as a bit of a hit – no surprises there!
And as for the bears in Can’t You Sleep Little Bear – how utterly brilliant is the line:
‘Big Bear is the big bear, and Little Bear is the little bear.’
I would like to say that my favourite bear is Iorek Byrnison from Northern Lights, but I Cannot Deny My Heart: it’s Pooh Bear. He has the supremely unfair advantage of having been voiced by Alan Bennett and just can’t be beaten.
For me he practically wins singlehandedly for the following passage:
As soon as he got home, he went to the larder; and he stood on a chair, and took down a very large jar of honey from the top shelf. It had HUNNY written on it, but, just to make sure, he took off the paper cover and looked at it, and it looked just like honey. “But you never can tell,” said Pooh. “I remember my uncle saying once that he had seen cheese just this colour.” So he put his tongue in, and took a large lick. “Yes,” he said, “it is. No doubt about that. And honey, I should say, right down to the bottom of the jar. Unless, of course,” he said, “somebody put cheese in at the bottom just for a joke.”
Incidentally, I’m surprised that no-one has chosen Rupert Bear yet!
Iorek Byrnison for our dark side, and Pooh Bear to warm the heart, perhaps? Excellent quote: what a good joke it would be, to put cheese in at the bottom.
(and yes – I can’t even SEE Alan Bennett without superimposing Pooh Bear’s face)
That’s a tough one…there have been so many loveable bears in my life…there were the gummy bears (who bounced and drank gummy-berry juice), Rupert the bear…little bear…Winnin the Pooh…
I think today…i’ll choose Rupert though. He goes on adventures and has a lovely sense of fashion 🙂
Hoorah for Rupert! Great choice. And those TROUSERS – not every bear could carry off that look…
I’m so very glad to hear that you have many bears in your life – that gives you a VIP reception every time over here at Sunny Side Up – and thanks for sharing!
Paddington! I just love the classics. 🙂
Congrat’s on your new book.
Yes, he IS fabulous! That’s neck and neck between Pooh Bear and Paddington, I think… how interesting! And thank you so much for your kind wishes…
Hallo! This is terribly tough! So worried am I, though, by the prospect of a Hard Stare from Paddington that I’m going to have to go for the be-duffeled one…. Am a HUGE fan of Katie Cleminson’s Otto too, though, and I LOVE Muffin – can we maybe go for a Bears XI as well as the Top Favourite?
Hallo Helen! yes, I would do anything to avoid Paddington’s Hard Stare too – and he is practically family after all. Otto is our newest bear today (well, apart from Muffin – thank you for saying!) so there must be a special crown for him…
Bears XI has a lovely ring to it!
I love the bear in ‘A visitor for bear’ by Bonny Becker – she draws him in such lovely expressive shapes and it’s a beautiful story about friendship (even when you’re a bit grumpy and don’t think you want it)
Thank you, Jane, for bringing this new lovely bear to the party as your ‘plus-one’! I’ve just been looking at it, and it is indeed fantastic. Bears are so well suited to the theme of grumpiness being won over in the end. And yes – what a lovely line. What a find!
It has to be Paddington for me. I loved him as a child and now really enjoy my own children listening to Stephen Fry reading his stories. My daughter used to quote Paddington in random ways that were always hysterical.
Thank you! Random Paddington-isms are the BEST! I’ve never even heard Stephen Fry ‘doing’ Paddington – it must be superb.
Trivia question: how much does it cost to take a sticky bear in a taxi??
Bears is extra I think?! This has reminded me of a visit to Paddington station when we took the kids to London. We went to look at the statue of Paddington and a hush descended, as if we’d made a pilgrimage to a shrine. The poor man sitting there trying to eat his sandwich seemed quite flustered.
Wonderful story! That’s very funny, especially the man with his sandwich…
SO CLOSE! It IS extra. It’s
‘bears is sixpence extra. Sticky bears is ninepence.’
So I’ll give you that one!
I have a book from my childhood that (if you haven’t already got it), you’d probably love: Michael Bond’s Book of Bears. I’ve just flicked through it for inspiration and have realised, that if I’m choosing from *my* childhood, it just has to be Paddington Bear. Although, as you know, my girls would probably choose your bear with sticky paws 🙂
Oh, but what about Jane Hissey’s bears? Or Jez Alborough’s? Or Emily Gravett’s Orange Pear Apple Bear? Or Big Bear, Little Brother? Or Catherine Rayner’s Iris and Isaac which is so very beautiful…
Sorry! I shall stop reminding myself of bear books and stick with Paddington 😉
Oh, no! How did I forget David Melling’s Hugless Douglas? Or any of his bears?! I was racking my brain so hard I forgot the obvious! Can I change my vote? 😉
What a fine list, Anne-Marie, thank you VERY much! I surely would love that Book of Bears, I’ll be looking out for it.
A change to Hugless Douglas? No problem! Big David fans over here at Sunny Side Up…
(V chuffed with a Sticky paws mention! bears and sticky do go together, don’t they…)
I completely forgot to mention the bear in ‘Orange Pear Apple Bear’. Emily Gravett’s big-bummed pear bear is a work of genius. Also Bartholemew Bear in Virginia Miller’s ‘On Your Potty!’ (and others in that series). I remember many a chuckle over that one when my eldest son was little.
Yes! Totally agree about Orange Pear Apple Bear. What a perfect text, too. And there’s a big-bummed pear bear side to us all, I feel…
Oddly, I can actually see On Your Potty from my desk, on the bookshelf, even though I haven’t looked at it for ages. It’s fate!
Hmm, tough…I reckon it’ll be the bear from “The Bear Under The Stairs’ by Helen Cooper simply because it is probably my son’s favourite bedtime read. I much have read it a 100 times.
Yup – it’s those books we are obliged to read over and over and DON’T make us want to throw them across the room in boredom: what an achievement!
Just spotted another Douglas fan popping up here…
DOUGLAS the bear from HUGLESS DOUGLAS.
He is just geat.
and I also have a soft spot for the polar bears Iris and Isaac in Catherine Rayners picture book.
Yes he IS. I don’t know Iris and Isaac – but I do LOVE Catherine Rayner’s work, she’s brilliant.
My favourite bear is Aunt Lucy from Paddington Bear (although I seem to recall referring to her as Great Aunt Lucy when I was little). I didn’t read many books with bears in when I was younger (that I can remember anyway) but I did have a “huge” Aunt Lucy toy, with tiny spectacles you could perch on her nose. Of course, she was more one of those toys that is for looking at rather than playing with! And naturally, when I think back to her, I realise she was probably a normal size bear – she just seemed huge to me! I loved to play with her and wish I’d had the foresight to keep her, as she would have been a tremendous teddy to pass down through the family.
My toddler’s favourite bear is “Baby Bear” from Whatever Next and I caught him the other day with the colander on his head as a space helmet, just like in the book!
That’s so great about your son having a colander on his head – I can picture it completely! I love that Baby Bear too.
And to have a huge Aunt Lucy toy – as big as a bear?? – seems to me straight out of a picture book too. What a shame it’s gone… do you carefully keep your children’s toys, or get rid of them? It’s such a dilemma!
Okay, so I’ve been thinking about your trivia question on twitter about how much a taxi ride would cost for a sticky bear and my first thought was hmmm, it would probably depend on whether the taxi driver is in a good mood or a grump.
Now I think a grumpy driver wouldn’t want a sticky bear in his taxi at all – after all, a sticky bear would get stuck to the seats and potentially to the driver (if the driver tries to help pull him out of the taxi),.
However, I think a taxi driver in a good mood would be more likely to accept the fare. But, ultimately, he’s still a very sticky bear and is still going to get stuck to the seats – plus anything loose in the taxi would get stuck to him – and he’s going to find it hard to hand over any money, as it’ll stick to his paws and in trying to take it, the taxi driver will probably get stuck to him aswell.
So, I can only conclude that a “good mood” taxi driver would try to untangle themselves from the stickiness and then not charge the bear anything at all.
Being a sticky bear can definitely be an advantage on the right day!
That is a SUPERB answer! Everything and everyone getting stuck to everything else – classic picture book material…
It has so much slapstick (or should I say slapsticky) potential I think we should be selling the film rights immediately…
Has to be the bears from Jane Hissey’s Old Bear Tales! Little Bear is undeniably adorable, Old Bear is the ever so respected elder of the group and Bramwell Brown is just so wise & just–all three are fantastic characters!
Very, very good choice – thank you! So right about the way the characters fit together – and with such amazing artwork you can just feel those lovely cuddly fur and textures…
Hi Clara
I hope I’m not too late to join in! Have been working hard today! I think my favourite bear HAS to be Paddington too. I especially like the bit where he’s supposed to be having a bath, and makes a giant map of Peru on the bathroom floor in shaving foam. The great thing about Paddington is his complete innocence and good intention.
I also like the story where he’s demonstrating his hoover to Mr Gruber. Paddington tips muck all over Mr Gruber’s carpet so that he can demonstrate hoovering it up, only to discover that Mr Gruber doesn’t have any electricity! Oops! I’m not sure if this is just a cartoon, or a book story too, but its one of my favourites.
Have a great weekend,
Caryl
x
Too late??? I would NEVER end a party until I’d heard from you!
I remember both of those Paddington moments too – classic stuff. Innocence and good intentions, as you say; it’s all so very brilliant.
There’s a great description earlier in the thread of a reverential trip to the Paddington statue, as if to a shrine. Very funny.
Thanks so much – and you too! x
The Bear from A Boy and A Bear in a Boat, or Mischka (a classic French picture book) as drawn by Olivier Tallec (http://www.amazon.fr/Michka-Marie-Colmont/dp/2081248069/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1328205536&sr=1-1). Ask me tomorrow and they might be different answers!
I’ve just looked – and yes, from the cover I can see exactly why… he’s just right to pop in your pocket and hurry home with!
NICE, thank you…
My eldest son is now 16 and one of his favourite books was The bear under the stairs. He loved that book and I read it so many times I could almost recite it off by heart. I don’t know what happened to the book and until tonight I hadn’t thought about it for years! So the bear under the stairs would be my favourite
Thank you so much, Nikki – and what a lovely choice and reason!
Funnily enough it’s exactly the same as David Melling’ s choice and reason too – the much-loved favourite read over and over again to a young son. That is so very much what picture books are all about. Happy memories, aren’t they?