My library puts stickers on books to guide readers. They tagged Oren Lavie’s The Bear Who Wasn’t There and the Fabulous Forest with a sticker that reads “Older Readers.” My first reaction is, boy is that an understatement.
I really enjoyed this, but it is both wordy and complex for a children’s picture book. I don’t exaggerate when I say it could be useful in high school to college classes in psychology and philosophy. It starts in familiar fashion: “Once upon a Time…” but immediately gets new “there was an Itch.” The itch–a freestanding sensation, scratches on a tree, and manifests as a bear, specifically “The Bear Who Wasn’t There!” But he is (there) and the reason we’re given is that “bears scratch when they itch” but also “itches scratch when they’re bears!“
The bear finds a note in his pocket asking “ARE YOU ME?” and the rest of the book is him looking through the Fabulous Forest for answers to that question. Lots of picture books feature implied searches for identity. Few picture books make that search literal and explicit, but that’s what this one does here.
I enjoyed this, but imagine only a certain kind of kid would, and there would be little chance of reading the book straight through. Instead, there would be many pauses and lots of back and forth.
I should add that Wolf Erlbruch illustrated the book. Erlbruch is a renowned artist/illustrator who has won the Astrid Lindgren Award. As a result, the images are quite artistic: engaging and original, with design that fits well with the philosophical story.
