The Bear Under The Stairs

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His mum thinks he is imagining things and gets cross when the cupboard starts to smell - William has been putting food in there for the bear. The Bear Under The Stairs is a lovely charming book that I will definitely introduce to children again!

Eventually a stench begins to waft out of the place under the stairs and William’s “bear” is discovered. Children will particularly like the imaginative bear scenes such as what the bear does at night while William sleeps and the bear holding his luggage while parachuting down to a new house at the end. Since I am by career a first grade teacher, I felt this was a great story to use with children to talk with them about their fears. When William's mom finally comes to his rescue to combat this scarey bear, he realizes maybe there wasn't a bear there after all. The themes are universal: fear, imagination, coping strategies, relationship with trusted adult, safety, bravery.Cooper was able to capture the ideas that children often have about whats in the closet, under the bed or in this case under the stairs. Her books have been translated into 26 languages and won many awards including the Library Association Kate Greenaway Medal – twice. However, in using it with youth, I didn't want there to be crayon marks and tears on the pages as some of the reviews noted.

The Bear Under the Stairs is about a young boy who believes there’s a bear living in the storage closet beneath the stairs. The only downside is that a few pages do have a dark color scheme that may not be as attractive to younger children. Helen Cooper is an author and illustrator whose work includes classic titles such as The Bear Under the Stairs, Pumpkin Soup, The Baby Who Wouldn’t Go to Bed and Tatty Ratty. The bear under the stairs is centred around a boy named William whom having one day seen a furry figure inside the cellar believes that there is a bear living under his stairs.Eventually the remains of the food let’s of a stench that the rest of the household can smell, when Williams mother decides to investigate they find that the cellar is rather empty. I love Helen Cooper: her stories are always thought-provoking and with gorgeously detailed illustrations. This is a great book to help any young child who harbours fears of thinking there are strange things going on in the house. This is a very relatable tale about a child’s imagination and fears, told through subtle rhyming text and detailed illustrations.