The Bumblebear

Name: William Joseph
Price range: $

by Nadia Shireen

Interest age: 4 to 7
Reading age: 5+

Published by Jonathan Cape, 2016

Funny
Picture books

About this book

Norman the bear loves honey, so he thinks up an ingenious plan to get his paws on as much as he can eat - by enrolling at Bee School!

Dressed in a bear-sized bee costume, Norman makes a convincing, if rather large, bee. He thoroughly enjoys the lessons and learns all sorts of useful skills, such as buzzing, waggly dancing and even flying. The other bees love him, as he always tries his best and is great fun to be around.

When a clever bee called Amelia questions him about his size, Norman claims he has come from Giant Bee Land. This satisfies most of the bees, but Amelia is not convinced, and sets about trying to uncover the truth about her oversized classmate.

Amusing colourful illustrations with witty details, such as a bee wearing a little bear costume, add gentle humour to this endearing tale about friendship and loyalty.

About the author

Nadia Shireen enjoyed making homemade magazines and comics as a child. She studied law at university and then worked in magazine journalism; it was during this time that she started to draw again. After a lifetime of doodling in the sidelines, Nadia decided to pay some attention to drawing and in 2007 was accepted onto an MA course in children’s book illustration at Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge. Her debut book, Good Little Wolf, received a mention in the Bologna Ragazzi Opera Prima Award and won the UKLA Book Award. Nadia has been shortlisted for the Roald Dahl Funny Prize and the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize. She lives in London.

Nadia Shireen is a former Writer in Residence for BookTrust