Hachette Children’s ISBN 9781444921748 £5.99
Fourth in the Rabbit and Bear series, this traditional style tale sees the friends discovering that some of their favourite trees have gone, appearing to have been eaten. They find the culprit is not the monster they feared, but the newly arrived Beaver, doing what beavers do. As beavers are being reintroduced to many areas, it was a little worrying to read of the apparent destruction happening here, but it turns out that the action of beavers does benefit most of their environment. It’s not good news for creatures who live underground however…such as a rabbit. In the end friendship prevails and the woodland creatures work together for a happy solution.
There’s humour to carry the story along and the retro-coloured illustrations work well. No less than Eoin Colfer and Neil Gaiman give high praise to previous titles in the series, so this is obviously well worth a read, especially for encouraging series readers. Age range 3 – 6.
Pam Dowson
