Best Bear Tracker

John Condon (Author) John's debut picture book, The Wondrous Dinosaurium, was Maverick Arts fastest-selling book of the year and was shortlisted for several awards, including The Children's Book of the Year. His second book, The Pirates Are Coming (Nosy Crow) was shortlisted for multiple awards, including The Queen's Knickers Award and the Stockport Children's Book Award.When he isn't writing picture books, John is a Creative Director at a branding agency in London. He lives with his family by the sea and enjoys weekend walks along the beach.Julia Christians (Illustrator) Julia Christians received her diploma in communications design at the University of Art in Brunswick, and after graduating, started working as a freelance graphic designer and illustrator. She lives in the deep dark forest of the Harz Mountains, Germany, with her husband, her kids, and a pack of dogs.

This is such a brilliant and funny children's picture book! The girl in the book tells us she's the best bear tracker in the world and sets off to find a bear. Along the way she tells us the steps to finding a bear, but is she really looking properly? The book is bigger than A4 in size and is filled with thick matt pages of colourful illustrations and some text. The story is such a simple and yet funny one with the girl telling us the different steps to finding a bear, such as paying attention, going near a river, looking in the trees, etc. Each double page shows the girl trying to find a bear using the steps she's teaching us. But as you continue to read on, you can see that the girl might not be noticing what is right behind her! The story is very good and children will love spotting the details in the illustrations on each page. While the girl is looking for the bear it's obvious that there is one nearby watching her, and I love how much closer with each step, the girl gets to the bear, but never notices it while on the search. The illustrations are wonderful, they really make this story so fun to read! Each page or double page is filled with lots to look at and it's definitely a very visual story with the majority of what is happening not being said in the words but only in picture. You can spot a bear in almost each of the illustrations and I love how the girl seems oblivious to the bear and how it seems to be curiously watching her in each image. The illustrations are so fun and funny too and the ending to the book is brilliant with the girl discovering what she was looking for in a way, I won't giveaway what actually happens but it's brilliant and clever and not what I expected at all. There's also a final page which made me and my family laugh! The book is so fun and I would recommend this to everyone! It's such a simple story, but there's a clever twist with the girl's search for a bear and I love what happens at the end and what happens with the bear on the last page too! It's a brilliant tale that children and adults will love looking at and it's one I'm sure will be read again and again!