The Great Bear

A heartfelt story of a cruelly treated dancing bear who finds the courage to stand up for herself.

The circus bear spends her days in a cage and her nights performing for a crowd. The crowd taunts her as she dances – poking her with sticks or throwing stones.
Can she ever break free?

“Subtle-yet spectacular and deeply moving.”

Subtle—yet spectacular and deeply moving. Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
Sometimes a picture book is memorable not because it satisfies but because something ambiguous about it leaves us feeling disquieted. Wall Street Journal

Libby Gleeson grew up in a number of country towns in Australia. She trained as a teacher, but gave it up to travel and to write. She lived in Europe and England for five years, but has since returned to Australia, where she writes full-time. Libby has written more than thirty books for young readers, including picture books, junior fiction, fiction for older readers and nonfiction. Libby’s work has received high acclaim both internationally and in Australia and has won many awards. Her books have been short-listed nine times for the Children’s Book Council of Australia Awards and Libby has won several times with Hannah Plus One (Fiction for Young Readers Book of the Year 1997), An Ordinary Day (Picture Book of the Year 2002) and Amy and Louis (Early Childhood Book of the Year 2007). Libby received the prestigious Lady Cutler Award for Services to Children’s Literature in 1997.
Some of Libby’s other books include the picture book Cuddle Time, illustrated by Julie Vivas, and the illustrated fiction title Happy Birthday x 3.

Armin Greder was born in Switzerland and migrated to Australia in 1970. He learned to draw at school, not in art classes but during maths and grammar, in the back of exercise books. Armin apprenticed as an architectural draftsperson but instead of becoming an architect he taught technical drawing and enjoyed other creative outlets for his work. Armin is an internationally renowned illustrator who has illustrated many distinctive picture books, several of them written by Libby Gleeson. Armin’s many awards include Children’s Book Council of Australia Picture Book of the Year 2002 for An Ordinary Day and the prestigious nomination for the Hans Christian Andersen Prize 2004 for his body of work. Armin has enjoyed many years of teaching drawing, design and illustration in Queensland in between his own writing, drawing and travels.

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