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Age guideline 4-7
About the event
A joyful and unique storytime about Boy Bear who cannot hear Dad Bear coming to wake him up in the morning but he can feel the floor vibrate with his heavy footsteps. He cannot catch what his friends are laughing at. And, all the time, Boy Bear keeps hearing the question, “Can Bears ski?” What does it mean? With the support of Dad Bear, Boy Bear visits an audiologist and, eventually, gets hearing aids. Suddenly, he understands the question everyone has been asking him. See if you can work out what it is as the story is told!
Ted Hughes award-winning poet and teacher Raymond Antrobus, whose deafness was first discovered at the age of six, draws on his own childhood to show how isolating it can be for a deaf child in a hearing world. Illustrator Polly Dunbar’s hearing loss is familial and she is partially-deaf and wears hearing aids. Join them both as they share this deeply personal and special book.
Buy the Book here: Can Bears Ski? - Raymond Antrobus & Polly Dunbar
How to access the event
From 1 January 2022, this event will move to our collection of Past Event Videos where you can access all past festival events for a small one-off fee of £5. Go to the top of the page to view Past Event Videos. Please click here to sign up or log in if you are already a member.
Teacher Resources
This event could be linked to exploring families and close positive relationships. How does Boy Bear and Dad Bear’s relationship change through the book? How does Dad Bear show he cares about Boy Bear?
The story explores different feelings and how Boy Bear’s feelings change through the story. How many different feelings does Boy Bear have? Can you list them all?
The story also plays with spoken and visual language. How does Polly show the reader when things are loud through her drawing? Can you draw different sounds? What might they look like?
Explore the characteristics of the 2 main characters in the story. Create another story for Boy Bear and Dad Bear. Create your own bear character, perhaps using the draw-along activity in the event. What adventures is your Bear going to have?
About the Authors
Raymond Antrobus became the first ever poet to be awarded the Rathbone Folio Prize for best work of literature in any genre. He has also won the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award, the Ted Hughes Award, PBS Winter Choice, and a Sunday Times and The Guardian Poetry Book of the Year 2018 Awards. Can Bears Ski? is his first picture book.
Polly Dunbar is the author-illustrator of Red, Red, Red, A Lion Is a Lion and the bestselling, award winning picture book Penguin. She is also the illustrator of My Dad’s a Birdman, written by David Almond, and Shoe Baby and Pat-a-Cake Baby, written by her mother, Joyce Dunbar.
Twitter: @RaymondAntrobus | @PollyDunbar
Instagram: @raymond_antrobus | @PollyDunbar
Facebook: Raymond-Antrobus-Poet | pollydunbarillustrator
Website: https://www.raymondantrobus.com | https://www.pollydunbar.com
About the festival partner
This event has been programmed by Bath Children’s Literature Festival.
Bath Festivals is a charity that brings you the Bath Children’s Literature Festival, Europe’s largest dedicated children’s literature festival with a vibrant array of talks and activities for children. They are also responsible for The Bath Festival in the summer which bring the city alive with a celebration of music and books in the beautiful venues and spaces of the world heritage city. By creating innovative and diverse programmes, their festivals inspire and provide unique experiences for residents and visitors to Bath and surrounding areas. Their year-round creative learning programme of hands-on music and literature projects gives children and young people opportunities to gain real-world experience, building their inner confidence and improving communication skills through the arts.