'Mawson Bear awakes and ponders on the art of creative napping. Scotland the Brave imagines doing great deeds. Professors Caddy and Bree hold the highest hopes for their visionary inventions. Samantha sees wondrous things all round her. The Seekers journey all the way to the edge of the world, being sure to return, of course, by bedtime.
'Flop down and relax awhile with Mawson and his drowsy friends. Refresh the soul in the tranquility of simple joys and innocent dreams.'
If you had to ask one of the things I wouldn't expect to be doing when I started reviewing books, reading an insightful picture book for all ages written by a stuffed bear probably wouldn't have been one of the first things I thought of, yet that's what I find myself doing today. The publishing industry is a wild, wild place.
Dreamy Days and Random Naps is the latest book written by Mawson Bear, a 'big-hearted, soul-searching Writer-Bear of little books with lots of heart', who lends his thoughts and opinions on a variety of topics across his books. This latest book deals with sleep, bedtimes, and naps.
The book is split into a multitude of short little, couple of page long tales, each one featuring Mawson and some of his friends. I was expecting a single story going into this, what with this being my first experience of his books, so was a little surprised to find that it was written in this style, but liked it. It reminds me more of short comic strips you'd find in newspapers, things like Garfield, where the characters would turn their thoughts to a specific topic or theme; and like those kinds of comic strips I found that the book is able to appeal to people of all ages.
Okay, so the book is filled with photos of stuffed toys getting into mischief and adventures that definitely appeals to kids, as well as some adults, but some of the topics covered and the pearls of wisdom that Mawson comes out with are a little more adult in nature, and require a little bit of thinking. I liked this about the book, and it strikes me as the kind of read where if a parent were reading it to a child they'd get something out of it too. I dare say an adult without a child to read the book to would get a fair bit out of it too.
Like I said, I went into the book expecting certain things, and found that most of my expectations were off the mark. Instead of finding a picture book purely designed for children I got to read a picture book that has something in it for all ages, a book that will take you by surprise, and get you to think a little.
No comments:
Post a Comment