Rainbow Bear is exquisitely written, as is all of Stephen Michael King’s work. Perfectly crafted sentences are a joy to read aloud and the illustrations exude the cheeky happiness of the story. I love the way King draws his smiles, the polar bear’s smiles, the sun and the moon’s smiles, are rich and full of emotion.
The setting is the cold Arctic icy snowfields, yet from the first page onwards we feel the warmth that radiates throughout this loving family story. The narrative follows a polar bear family, but other arctic animals are included in the illustrations including penguins and whales.
The endpapers are colouring in pages that also act as a prologue and epilogue to the story. I love seeing endpapers that are interactive and part of the story too.
Daddy Bear comes back from the city bearing gifts and even though he is tired he cherishes being back home, spending all day playing with his cubs. After that, he awakes every morning with his fur coloured like the rainbow. Bear is baffled until he gets a little clue…
A beautiful and touching story of family togetherness and cheeky fun!
We enjoyed the experience of Rainbow Bear. This is picture book gold! I would definitely recommend getting this book for your collection or check it out of the library and read it together with your child.
This was the book Mr 6’s class chose for this year’s Book Week Assembly. They painted white t-shirts in rainbow colours and looked amazing as they paraded at the assembly! A great idea for book week dress up.
Suggested age: Read aloud to 3+. Read by self 5+. Recommended for an intermediate reader.
Published by Scholastic Austraila, 2018.
