Stay Awake,bear!

by Gavin Bishop

Old Bear and his friend Brown Bear decide that sleeping all winter is a waste of time, so they stay awake planning a warm summer vacation and then sleep through the whole trip.

Genres: Picture Books, Animals, Childrens

32 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2000

About the author

Gavin Bishop is a highly acclaimed children’s book author and illustrator. Born in Invercargill, he spent his childhood in the remote railway settlement of Kingston on the shores of Lake Wakatipu. Studying under Russell Clark and Rudi Gopas, Gavin graduated from the Canterbury University School of Fine Arts with an honours degree in painting. He taught art at Linwood High School (now Linwood College) and at Christ’s College in Christchurch.

He won the Margaret Mahy Medal in 2000, and has also won numerous other fellowships and national book awards. His book The House that Jack Built won the Book of the Year and Best Picture Book at the NZ Post Children’s Book Awards 2000. Weaving Earth and Sky won the non-fiction section and the Book of the Year Award of the NZ Post Children’s Book Awards 2003, and was shortlisted for the LIANZA Elsie Lock Medal in 2003. He has won the LIANZA Russell Clark Medal for Illustration four times. Among his successful partnerships has been that with writer Joy Cowley, with whom he won the Best in Junior Fiction and Book of the Year at the 2008 NZ Post Children’s Book Awards for Snake and Lizard.

The Storylines Gavin Bishop Award for Picture Book Illustration was established in 2009 to encourage emergent illustrators and to acknowledge Gavin’s contribution to the writing and illustrating of children’s picture books. In 2013 he was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, and President of Honour of the NZ Society of Authors, and he was the recipient of the 2013 Arts Foundation Mallinson Rendel Illustrator’s Award. Gavin’s artwork has featured in exhibitions internationally, including Japan and Czechoslovakia. He has written and designed two ballets for the Royal New Zealand Ballet Company: Terrible Tom and Te Maia and the Sea Devil. In 2003, during the Ursula Bethell Residency, he wrote and illustrated Giant Jimmy Jones, the world’s first three-dimensional animated picture book for HITLab at the University of Canterbury.

Reviews

[Melki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two bears spend their winter playing games, and planning the ideal summer vacation instead of napping. They learn the hard way that bears gotta hibernate sometime. Cute story with fun illustrations by the author.

[Bug · Rating 5 out of 5]

Normally I don't include kids picture books on here but this book really touched me and I don't want to forget what it's called.

[Elisabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adorable book!

[Dolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an entertaining story about a bear who decides not to hibernate for the winter and his neighbor who ends up joining him. I loved reading about all of the activities they did during the cold winter months, especially since they didn't resort to watching television. The narrative is fun to read aloud and the illustrations are colorful and cartoonish. We enjoyed reading this book together.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

What would a bear do all winter if he decides not to sleep? Lots of fun things, it turns out...like watch movies and play the banjo. But can he really stay awake all winter long? And then be wide awake for spring? We get a peek into a silly bear's decision not to hibernate.

[Misty · Rating 5 out of 5]

fun!

[Esodhiambo · Rating 3 out of 5]

bears
hibernation
following dreams

[Chase · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked it cuz they ate Mac & Cheese. They stayed awake all winter and then slept all summer.