View source for Norris: the Bear Who Shared by Catherine Rayner

{{infobox2
|title=Norris: the Bear Who Shared
|author=Catherine Rayner
|reviewer=Sue Magee
|genre=For Sharing
|summary=A delightful story about the virtues of patience, friendship and sharing with illustrations which make you want to hug Norris!
|rating=4
|buy=Yes
|borrow=Yes
|pages=32
|publisher=Orchard
|date=February 2011
|isbn=978-1846163098[http://www.example.com link title]
|aznuk=1846163099
|aznus=1846163099
|cover=1846163099
}}

Norris is a bear – a large, brown bear.  He's also a very wise bear because he knows something which will always be useful to him.  He knows about sharing.  It all began when he saw the plorringe on the tree and he knew that plorringes are the best fruit of all.  All he had to do was to wait for the fruit to fall.  In the meantime, Tulip and Violet discovered the plorringe too. They had a sniff at it – and it was gorgeous – and even a squeeze which showed that it was soft and fluffy – but what were they to do about Norris who was ''much'' bigger than them and could easily run away with the fruit?

Well, eventually, matters were taken out of Tulip and Violet's hands when the plorringe fell straight onto the bear's head with a ''WHOMP!'' and the plorringe belonged to Norris.  What would happen now?  Well, Norris wasn't just wise – he was kind too – and he peeled the plorringe and shared it with Violet and Tulip.  From then on the three animals were very good friends and they shared everything.

Children don't readily share.  Some seem to be more territorial than guard dogs and introducing the idea that sharing is actually a good idea isn't easy.  Bear could easily have taken all the plorringe and Tulip and Violet would have found it difficult to complain because bear is large and might is right, right?  Well, Norris looked beyond the easy reaction and realised that friends were more important than having all of the plorringe.  It's a gentle story about the virtues of friendship, sharing and patience made all the more engaging by Catherine Rayner's gorgeous bold pictures.  Bear is several bold splotches of brown with dots for eyes, but you still want to cuddle him.

I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to the Bookbag.

We met Catherine Rayner's illustrations before in [[Posy by Linda Newbery and Catherine Rayner|Posy]], but one of my all-time favourite books is [[Ernest by Catherine Rayner|Ernest]] about the moose who couldn't fit into his own book.  You might also enjoy [[Best Friends by Kim Hyun]], [[Waiting for Goliath by Antje Damm]], [[Frank and Teddy Make Friends by Louise Yates]], [[Rollo and Ruff and the Little Fluffy Bird by Mick Inkpen]], [[The Melancholic Mermaid by Kallie George and Abigail Halpin]] or [[Best Friends by Mara Bergman and Nicola Slater]].  

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