No Bears by Meg McKinlay and Leila Rudge

Do you ever get sick of bears in books? I know from experience that many book sellers do. “Bears again?” “More Bears?” “I’m so over bears!”

Ruby, the precocious protagonist in No Bears feels the same. So much so, she is making her own book with absolutely no bears in it. As she states fairly plainly, and convincingly (as she unloads more than her height in books into the ‘Bear Book Recycling Bin’): “You don’t need BEARS for a book.”

So after listing all the things that you need in a book (pretty things, fairies and princesses and maybe a monster, just to name a few), she begins with “Once upon a time…” (so that you know it’s a book). The story unfolds with out a single bear in it.

Or does it?

She’s not aware of the bear that lingers outside the pages of her book, doing its best to help out. Little does she know that when the princess (played by Ruby herself, of course) is abducted by a terrible monster, it is the bear that saves the day. 

So when she concludes that her book is “the prettiest, most exciting, scariest and funniest book ever. … Because there were NO BEARS in it.” The attentive reader might be able to offer another version. The other characters in Ruby’s story have noticed the bear, and listen to its side of the story in awe on the last page.

A delightful romp into book-making with a mischievous look at how outside influences can make it past even the most stubborn of authors. Leila Rudge’s adorable illustrations are the perfect match for Meg McKinlay’s whimsical tone and cheeky story telling.