Unbearable by Kathryn Apel & Beau Wylie
A trio of bears, mum, dad and junior, get their porridge ready for breakfast, but the honey pots are all empty. They leave their house and head for the bee hive in the tree. Here they gobble up all the honey from the hive, provoking the anger of the bees. Meanwhile Goldilocks has entered their house.
She pushes aside two bowls of porridge because they are too hot, then gobbles up the third, smaller bowl of porridge. Leaving upturned bowls and trails of porridge across the table, sdhe goes into the cosy den, and finding one chair too soft and the other offering a protruding spring, she selects the step stool as her seat to sit back and enjoy a book. Things become very messed up in the den as well. Then she sleepily goes upstairs to the bedroom, where she rejects the first bed as too heavily covered in blankets, the second is too high but the third with its array of teddy bears suited her well, and she falls asleep.
The bears meanwhile are headed quickly for home followed by a crowd of angry bees. They notice footsteps leading inside, and find someone has been in their house, eaten their porridge and made a mess both in the kitchen and the den. They eventually find her in the bedroom, where they berate her for stealing into their house and stealing their porridge, leaving a mess. Partway through the telling off a loud humming can be heard. The bees which have equally had their house invaded and the honey stolen are looking for the thieves.
A fun story for children, those who know the Goldilocks story will be as equally enchanted as those who do not, but all will understand the moral of the tale, ’do unto others …’
Lovely rhyming verse will provoke readers to predict the rhyming words, and the use of many puns and word play on the word bear will bring smiles to their faces.
The illustrations are wonderful, showing the bears in all their moods, and Goldilocks and her knowing smile, and three way tale will entertain the readers. Detail on each page is fascinating and will provoke lots of discussions about honey and hives and bears as well as stepping on other people’s toes.
Themes: Bears, Honey, Incursion, Humour.
Fran Knight