On "The Bear That Wasn't": A Book Review

Title: The Bear that Wasn’t

Author: Frank Tashlin 

Genre: Children’s Fiction (but also adult fiction)

About the book…

With winter approaching a bear settles down in a cave to hibernate, but while he sleeps a lot of men show up and build a factory right over his cave. When he wakes up he walks through a door and ends up in the factory where enters the accusatory world of men who insist despite his own protests that he’s a silly man who needs a shave and wears a fur coat. Written in 1946, a cartoon adaption was done in 1967.

What I think… 

I can’t remember if I was first introduced to this story through the cartoon or if I read the book first, but it’s a story that stuck with me and I finally bought a copy of it to re-read last year. I happily liked it just as much. 

The repetitive nature of the story makes it funny and the writing has a nice rhythm to it, which is very appealing and makes it fun to read aloud. The illustrations, which are also by Tashlin, are delightful and make the story even better. The more detailed illustrations are well worth looking closely at, such as one of the zoo where you’ll find things like Santa in the reindeer cage, someone in a bath tub atop the elephant, and mischievous monkeys placing banana peels on the pathway. 

While it can be viewed as a silly story, which it most certainly is, there’s also a lot of to be gained from it as an adult. At the heart of it is the message to remain true to yourself no matter what anyone tells you, which I love about it. 

To sum it all up… 

A simple, yet meaningful, book about a bear for both children and adults to enjoy. ♥