Inspired by a true story, this charming book tells the tale of an unlikely visitor to a quiet Hebridean island – a large and rather fierce looking bear, “just suddenly there, filling the air with bear.”
As this lonely and misunderstood creature wanders the island, searching for food and generally terrifying the islanders, he encounters a young girl from a wild island croft, whose eyes hold “the silver light of the sea”, and a special friendship is formed.
With Louise Greig’s gently rhyming text and Vanya Nastanlieva’s wonderfully evocative hand-drawn illustrations, this is one of those children’s books that is a joy to read to your little bears.
Far removed from the soulless, pixel-perfect TV spin-offs that clog up so much of kids’ bookshelves these days, it’ll have you searching out the other original Scottish picture books available in the same series.
Book Review: The Island and the Bear by Louise Greig and Vanya Nastanlieva
