Bear loves to stare…and stare…and stare.

One morning he emerges from his den to find a family of ladybugs

having a picnic breakfast. He can’t help but gaze at them intently. “‘What are you staring at?’” the daddy
ladybug demands before he and his family pack up to find a more private leaf. Bear continues on his way. In a
bit he climbs a tree and stares at a bird feeding her chicks. “‘Can I help you?’” the mother bird asks, but Bear
remains silent. The chicks don’t like Bear interfering with their meal, so the mother bird angrily tells him to
“‘sshhhooooo!’”
At the bottom of the tree Bear spies a badger hole and sticks his head inside. The badger, particularly irritated at
Bear’s badgering stare while he is shaving, bites poor bear on the nose. Sore and dejected, Bear wanders
through the forest to a large pond. He sits down on a log to ponder his situation. He doesn’t mean to be
annoying, he’s “just curious but too shy to say anything.”
A little frog floating on a lily pad in the middle of the pond pipes up, “‘I’ve seen that look before.’” Bear stares
at the frog and the frog stares back. “‘Not much fun being stared at, is it?’” he says. Bear confesses that he just
doesn’t know what to say to anyone. Just then Bear catches a glimpse of another bear staring back at him from
the mossy water of the pond. This bear looks exactly like Bear, except that he is green and wavy. Suddenly, the
green bear smiles. “‘You see?’” says the frog. “‘Sometimes a smile is all you need.’” The frog dives off his lily
pad into the pond, and the green bear disappears too.
The next day Bear leaves his den and discovers the ladybug family breakfasting again. As soon as they spot
Bear, they begin to gather their things. “‘Hello!’” Bear says with a big smile on his face. The ladybugs are
surprised and happy. “‘Oh, hello!’” replies the dad, smiling back. With renewed confidence Bear wanders into
the forest. He smiles at the birds and smiles at the badger, and they smile at him in return. Bear makes a lot of
new friends that day. And there’s even that friend down at the pond who likes to stare as much as he does!
Duncan Beedie highlights the awkward feeling many kids—and even adults—often feel in social situations.
Nothing pops immediately to mind to say and yet there’s a desire for connection. As Bear discovers, staring is
not the answer—so what is? In The Bear Who Stared Beedie offers a simple, but universal solution through an
engaging and humorous story. Bear, sporting a bemused expression that aptly depicts his predicament, is such
an endearing character that readers will wish they could give him a hug as he suffers slights from the woodland
creatures.
The full-bleed, oversized pages put readers at eye level with bear and his subjects, and the very up-close look
into Bear’s staring eyes will make kids laugh. The green, rust, and blue palette on matte paper is bold, but
muted, giving the pages an organic, environmental feel that is perfect to carry the story.
The Bear Who Stared is a funny story time read with a heart that kids will ask for again and again.