Sinclair the Wonder Bear

by Malorie Blackman, Deborah Allwright (Illustrator)

Sinclair is no ordinary teddy bear. At night, when his owner Emily is fast asleep, he becomes a Wonder Bear, flying all over the world, and magically changing himself into new materials to save people in danger. One night, he's a very busy bear indeed!

48 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

An award-winning children's author, Malorie Blackman was honoured with an OBE in 2008. Her work has been adapted for TV and stage.

More information available at:
Myspace
British Council: Contemporary Authors
British Council: Encompass Culture
Channel 4 Learning: Book Box

Reviews

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another year 2 flashback (at least I think! This book certainly rings a bell), which (I think) I enjoyed.

[Devin · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the middle of the story, there was is it a bird, is it a plane, no it is super potato, but in super Sinclair a bird, is it a plane, no it’s super Sinclair it is a super M doesn’t even know M was still asleep. Well, I didn’t even see him get up not even her Mum not even her dad. I only saw Sinclair fly around helping people… (next part coming up 🔜).

[Tiffany Armentor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining adventures of a teddy bear by day, super hero by night. Kept my little’s attention but as an educator the best part is at the end of the book it teaches about natural and man-made materials and offers an experiment that parents could do with their child. I always a teachable moment.

[Michelle Farella · Rating 3 out of 5]

Go Bananas, Blue level - Long complex plot and words, long sentences.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is a very entertaining book for Key Stage 1 pupils and what is also important it contains plenty of essential facts about materials. Sinclair is a very special teddy bear; he has extraordinary abilities which allow him to change into a Wonder Bear and help people. His owner Emily does not know anything about his special features, as he becomes the Wonder Bear during nights.

The book describes one of his busy nights, when he travels around the world and helps people by changing himself into different materials, for example he becomes a bear of steel and acts as a part of a rail in order to save people travelling by train or he changes into a rubber bear to rescue small Jack from drowning. Moreover, he turns into a bear of magnet and glass and does it just in one night. He manages to come back home and changes to Emily’s teddy bear again. But that is not the end of the book. Here starts the more informative part, where the Wonder Bear presents facts about different materials and gives examples of their use with some humorous illustrations. This book finishes with a description of Mr Alien game based on the properties of the materials.

“Sinclair, Wonder Bear” is an interesting book, because through the description of the adventures of an extraordinary teddy bear it conveys lots of important information. In order to appeal to children it contains very colourful, amazing illustrations and attention - grabbing speech bubbles, with additional statements, predominantly very funny. This book can imply many different follow - up activities. I would recommend it as a guided reading book.