There were lots of facts about space and Bear liked to repeat them to whoever would listen.
Which was mostly himself.
Bear in Space is a wonderful picture book that explores how although we may feel a little different from others, there is often someone out there who is just like us and loves us just the way we are.
The story along with the vibrant illustrations show us that it is important to be happy with who we are and trying to belong to the wider group is not important. Deborah Abela’s story shows also that finding friends sometimes takes time but when it does it can help us to realise just how great our own hopes and dreams are as we can share our knowledge, our love of things and have great adventures with those who truly ‘get’ us!
Meet Bear, he loves reading books, loves learning about space and loves time to hang out by himself. He enjoys thinking and creating, so much so that one day he builds a space ship to take him to outer space to learn more!
Once out there he enjoys sipping hot chocolate and reading, until he notices another small speck floating towards him and that is when he meets Panda!
Panda helps bear to see that through friendship, we can often be so much more than we think we are.
You’ll love reading A bear in Space by Deborah Abela and Marjorie Crosby-Fairall, the illustrations are amazing, they ooze wonder and joy through little bear’s actions and bring so much emotion to the story. You can spend time looking through the small additions to the illustrations and learning a little bit more about Bear and his friend Panda.
Using this book in the classroom
Friendships, Differences, self esteem.
I have used this book in classrooms to talk to children about who our friends are, how friends can help us to be happy with who we are and that friends often help us to realise that what we love doing .
This book also shows the importance of accepting everyone’s differences and that no matter what one person is interested in, we cannot laugh at them or ignore them, but rather accept the wonder of difference and how important it is to make the world a better place.
This book can also be used to explore the language of comparison and contrast by discussing how bear and panda are different, yet have things in common.
Please watch this great trailer about Bear in Space as well as how the idea came about along with the collaboration between Deborah and Marjorie
