Picture books should be bright, bold and preferably funny and a bit silly to appeal to their target audience. I Am Bear by Ben Bailey Smith, illustrated by Sav Aykuz (Walker, RRP £11.99) is all of those things, telling of the escapades of the eponymous antihero as he steps into his purple suit and causes chaos wherever he goes. Smith is otherwise known as rapper Doc Brown (and Zadie Smith’s brother) so, as you’d expect, although it’s not all rhyming, there’s a rhythm to the text. The general silliness of bear is a draw for all ages – both my two cracked up over the opening lines, ‘I am bear… and I am bare’, although I suspect Kitty was laughing at the picture of a naked bottom and Alfie at the homophone. A fun read.
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