The Bear Who Wasn't There: And The Fabulous Forest

The Bear Who Wasn't There: And the Fabulous Forest l Book Review

Congratulations! I won the book on LibraryThing. Thank you, Katie Martinez!

Here's what others are saying:

"Bear’s search for himself doesn’t matter so much as the charm of Lavie’s storytelling voice as he narrates it . . . Erlbruch gives the bear big, puzzled-looking eyes and a lovable grin. He lives in a forest made of ornate trees seemingly lifted from vintage engravings, whose delicate lines play off Bear’s dumpy figure. Bear’s encounters with various characters—the Turtle Taxi, the Penultimate Penguin—feature gentle wordplay and Lewis Carroll–like paradoxes . . . Everything is new to Bear, and his discoveries will delight readers."
--Publisher's Weekly, Starred Review

The Bear Who Wasn't There: And the Fabulous Forest

Product Details


  • Age Range: 3 - 7 years
  • Grade Level: Preschool - 2
  • Hardcover: 48 pages
  • Publisher: Black Sheep (October 4, 2016)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1617754900
  • ISBN-13: 978-1617754906

About The Book

One day, a few minutes after Once Upon a Time, a bear awakes to find he has lost something very important: himself! He sets out into the Fabulous Forest to find himself, using only a few clues scrawled on a piece of paper: the bear he's looking for is a nice bear; he is a happy bear, and he's very handsome too! These sound like pretty good qualities to Bear, and so begins his memorable journey. With the help of Fabulous Forest critters like the Convenience Cow, the Lazy Lizard, and the Penultimate Penguin, Bear finds that he himself is just what he's been looking for all along: a nice, happy bear--and handsome too!

Book Beginning

Once upon a Time, there was an Itch.
Simply, an Itch.
It wasn't a very big Itch.
It wasn't a small Itch, either.
It was a medium-size Itch.
And the Itch wanted to scratch.
Once upon a Time.



Bear Illustration: Wolf Erlbruch

THE MORE I LOOK
THE LESS I KNOW
IF TREES AND FLOWERS GROW
WHEN I'M NOT LOOKING.

Book Illustration: Fabulous Forest l Wolf Erlbruch
Lost, yet moving Forward in The Fabulous Forest.

Book Review


Brilliant work with a masterful  balance of musical wordplay and beautiful, detailed golden pictures! The book is perfectly written for a child's imaginative understanding and the poetic prose will delight adults also. You see, the main character is a very positive bear who is happy and nice. Oh, and he's handsome, too! He seems to have forgotten himself and sets out on a journey moving forward to finding himself with the help of Turtle Taxi. The story moves along quite nicely as the author introduces bear to some fabulous forest friends; Convenience Cow, Lazy Lizard, and Penultimate Penguin. Ah... the path of self-discovery is a beautiful thing!  You'll feel so at home with this one. Get it and guaranteed, you will want to read it every night at bedtime. It's that great. Bravo!

5/5 stars! Highly recommend! Delightful! Love it!

Book Illustrations: Wolf Erlbruch

About the Author

Oren Lavie has green eyes, long curly hair, and relatively cold feet. He was born in June, one week behind schedule, and has been trying to catch up ever since. He likes to sleep late but does his best writing early in the morning, which is why his best writing so rarely gets done. Oren is a musician, director, and author of children's books. His debut album, The Opposite Side of the Sea, was released worldwide to critical acclaim, winning him the prestigious ASCAP Foundation Sammy Cahn Award for his lyrics. The music video for "Her Morning Elegance" was nominated for a Grammy Award and became a YouTube hit. Oren wrote "A Dance 'Round the Memory Tree" for The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian movie. The Bear Who Wasn't There is his first book to be published in the US.

Wolf Erlbruch is one of Germany's most renowned illustrators; his work is respected and loved around the world. Among his many awards, Wolf has received both the Gutenberg and the German Children's Literature Award, as well as a Hans Christian Andersen Illustrator Award. His previous book, Duck, Death and the Tulip, sold more than 100,000 copies and was published in nineteen countries.
Happy Reading!

 -- LadyD
“You can’t get a cup of tea big enough or a book long enough to suit me." C. S. Lewis

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