Copycat Bear by Ellie Sandall

Copycat Bear by Ellie Sandall
Buy Copycat Bear by Ellie Sandall at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Category: For Sharing
Reviewer: Ruth Ng
Summary: A softly drawn, gentle story that would be lovely for bedtime reading.
Buy? Yes	Borrow? Yes
Pages: 32	Date: June 2012
Publisher: Hodder Children's Books
ISBN: 978-1444901573
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Mango has a best friend who is an enormous bear called Blue. Mango finds herself getting frustrated as Blue likes to copy everything that Mango does. Will the two friends be able to get along happily?

It's a common problem amongst little ones - they make friends, but then their friend starts to copy everything they do, and instead of being flattered they get more and more irritated. This is exactly what happens with Mango and Blue. When Mango flaps, Blue flaps his paws. When Mango hops, Blue hops. Disaster almost strikes when Mango flies out of the tree and Blue decides he can fly too...he almost lands on Mango! This is when she decides she's had enough, and she flies off to be by herself. But once she's alone she starts to miss her friend, wondering what he's getting up to and if he's okay. In the end she flies back, telling him that birds are different to bears, but they can still be best friends.

This is a very simple story, told in a gentle way. The illustrations bring the book to life, soft and colourful, and the two characters or Blue and Mango are sweetly drawn. My only complaint would be that they are perhaps a little repetitive, mostly based around trees and paper cut-out leaves. I like books that vary their backgrounds, even if it's just the colour of the sky from page to page, but since I also love any book with a bear in it, particularly a lovely fluffy blue bear like this one I'll overlook the monotonous backgrounds!

Blue is a very silly bear, and it's surprising that Mango puts up with him as long as she does. I like her frustration when she calls him bear brain! and the picture of poor Blue landing bump on the ground when he tries to fly made us smile. Mango doesn't seem to resolve the issue of Blue being a copycat, but perhaps she just reaches peace within herself with his behaviour and that's enough for her!

I don't think there's quite enough to the story for it to become one of our falling apart favourites, but it's still rather lovely and a nice book to share with toddlers."

You might also like to look at another book by the same author - Birdsong by Ellie Sandall

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You can read more book reviews or buy Copycat Bear by Ellie Sandall at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
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