What do you think?
Rate this book
A Boy and A Bear in a Boat
A boy and a bear go to sea, equipped with a suitcase, a comic book, and a ukulele. The bear assures the boy that they are traveling a short distance and it really shouldn't take very long. But then they encounter "unforeseeable anomalies": turbulent stormy seas! a terrifying sea monster! and the rank remains of The Very Last Sandwich. The odds are pitted against the boy and the bear and their boat.
Will the Harriet , their trusted vessel, withstand the violent lashings of the salty waves? And will anyone ever answer their message in a bottle?
From the Hardcover edition.
Will the Harriet , their trusted vessel, withstand the violent lashings of the salty waves? And will anyone ever answer their message in a bottle?
From the Hardcover edition.
304 pages, Library Binding
First published June 12, 2012
33 people are currently reading
548 people want to read
About the author
Dave Shelton
21 books23 followersDave Shelton is the author of Thirteen Chairs. His UK debut novel for children, A Boy And A Bear In A Boat, was shortlisted for numerous awards in the UK and won the Branford Boase Award, an award given to an outstanding children's or young adult novel by a first-time writer. He's also the creator of the UK comic strip "Good Dog, Bad Dog." He lives in Cambridge, England, with his family.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 209 reviews
July 12, 2012
waiting for godot meets the little prince. I love it so much I can't even tell you.
April 20, 2013
This is a book aimed at 8-11 year olds, and I suspect, boys. However the essentially existentialist narrative may attract an older audience who would see it as a metaphor for life and experience. In simple terms it is about a boy and a bear on a boat. There is no explanation why, where or when and the ending is left open. The bear, (the captain) does not always inspire confidence, they experience various anomalies and unexplained problems but, but together they struggle on. For me the strongest feature of this book was the beautiful artwork, which I hope made it into the paperback edition. This read a little like a cross between Samuel Becket's 'Waiting for Godot' and 'The Life of Pi' but for 8 year olds. I would have liked a little more humour, I found the pace unbalanced and the boy a little irritating. I have a problem with any book that uses the word 'boring' as I spend some much time persuading children not to use it it, but I suppose that is my personal hang up.
All in all, beautifully illustrated, quirky, unusual and a book I may have to brood over before I settle on a final star rating, but my initial impression is that I think this would have been better on the 2013 Greenaway shortlist than on the Carnegie. The image text cohesion was great, the text itself, less satisfying; I wanted to turn the page to see the next illustration rather than read what happened next. For me it wasn't in the same league as David Almond's 'My Name is Mina' (Carnegie 2012 shortlist). Having said that I can see that some people would see this as a 5*, so try it and see!
All in all, beautifully illustrated, quirky, unusual and a book I may have to brood over before I settle on a final star rating, but my initial impression is that I think this would have been better on the 2013 Greenaway shortlist than on the Carnegie. The image text cohesion was great, the text itself, less satisfying; I wanted to turn the page to see the next illustration rather than read what happened next. For me it wasn't in the same league as David Almond's 'My Name is Mina' (Carnegie 2012 shortlist). Having said that I can see that some people would see this as a 5*, so try it and see!
September 11, 2012
First off, I like it.
I think it's important to make that note right upfront. Particularly since I'm probably going to break out terms like "bizarre", "peculiar", "odd", "weird", and "eerily strange" (or "strangely eerie" depending on my mood) when describing this book. I will undoubtedly be simultaneously inclined to warn you off of the whole enterprise while luring you in with terms like "artful writing" and "deft turns of phrase". I think that it is safe to say that A Boy and a Bear in a Boat is a study in contrasts. A uniquely British import with an internal logic so fixed and solid that you're willing to go along with it, even when it goes against everything you've come to expect in juvenile fiction. It's Waiting for Godot for kids. Life of Pi for the grade school set. A bit of big picture fiction that dares to challenge reader expectations, even if that reader happens to be nine. It's brilliant and flawed and pretty much the most interesting chapter book fare for children you'll read this year, even when it strikes you as dull. One thing's for certain. There is nothing else quite like it on your library or bookstores shelves.
"Will it take long?" "A little while." A boy steps into a boat captained by a rather large bear. His destination? The other side. At first all appears to be going well. The sea is calm and the sky clear. The boy even takes a nap, only to wake up to find that he has not reached his destination after all. After a couple days pass it seems fairly clear that the bear has gotten the two of them hopelessly lost. Their survival on the high seas takes the form of many small adventures, from teatime to sea monsters, and everything in-between. In the end, the boy and the bear reach a kind of peace and a desire to keep going, no matter what.
Big picture fiction is what I called this book earlier and I stand by that phrase. Once in a great while you'll encounter a novel for children that selects the road less taken, for better or for worse. These tend to be books that try to make child readers really sit down and think. They also tend to be imports. Nothing against American writers or publishers, but the market these days is not exactly inclined to give much space to the more speculative and philosophical titles out there. Not today anyway. In the era of Russell Hoban's The Mouse and His Child I'm certain an American writer could have gotten away with A Boy and a Bear in a Boat easy peasy. These days, not so much. Unless you are dealing with an independent publisher, most big publishers would much rather put out surefire hits than titles where two nameless characters go nowhere for pages on end.
It's the journey, not the destination that counts. Now try telling that to an eight-year-old when you've decided to take the scenic route on any trip. I'll tell you true that I would have hated this book as a child. But then, I was a pretty unimaginative person. I have distinct memories of reaching the end of Stuart Little only to be appalled and disgusted with its ending. And yes, I am about to discuss the ending of A Boy and a Bear in a Boat so consider this your spoiler alert warning, such as it is. I think Shelton's intent here is to make the book so engaging and the small adventures so enticing that kids will root less for the characters to find their way and more for them to continue having adventures. Their quixotic quest, however, may make the mistake of starring two characters so loveable that in spite of the enjoyment you derive from watching them on the page, your desire to see them safe and sound trumps all. And when that happens, expect some serious middle grade reader fury to manifest itself when they reach the last page.
So why stick with it at all? Well it's hard to put in so many words but I suspect it has something to do with the character development. Here you have a boy and a bear, and we don't find out much of anything about them, not even their names. Where's the boy going and does he have a family waiting for him? No idea. Why is the bear the captain of his boat and who was the "Harriet" he named it after? Not explained. Actually, this is sort of a feat of writing in and of itself. Try writing a 294-page story without delving into a character's background even once. Now at the same time, find ways to really highlight what makes these two people tick anyway. Begin their meeting with a low-level animosity that climbs as things go from bad to worse. Now build a believable friendship between them and make it so that you're rooting for them both. Go boy! Go bear! Find that land! Find it, I say!
And the writing . . . oh the writing. It excels, it soars, it flies. Most important of all, it's funny. Shelton has a mad genius for squeezing large drops of humor out of what would otherwise be pretty bleak fare. Starving to death on the high seas is nothing to laugh at, but you'd think otherwise when you read some of the man's lines. For example, when the boy finds some biscuits on a boat the book says, "It was very hard and dry and tasted almost of nothing at all, only not as nice." There are also moments so sad and funny all at once that you end up hooting rather loudly as you read the book on your morning subway ride. The part where the bear has constructed a rather perfect raft with which to save himself and the boy, then proceeds to lose it all thanks to a stiff gust is this pitch perfect moment of clarity that I would hold up as one of the finest funniest bits of humor writing for kids this year.
I was admittedly a little surprised to find that the illustrations were by Shelton himself. Apologies to Mr. Shelton but when I think of long books written by great artists I think of works of nonfiction (We Are the Ship), illustrated novels that rely as much on visual storytelling as narrative (Wonderstruck), or cute animal tales (A Nest for Celeste). What I do not think of is grade school ennui. Shelton's illustrations, by the way, are a godsend in a book such as this. You find yourself relying on them to a certain extent. Sequences that feature bored characters in books are always in danger of boring the readership as well. Shelton's pictures, however, keep eyeballs wide open. They're just the right combination of cartoonish and classic. And for the record I was hugely impressed with a faux Eastern European comic book sequence that takes place after the boy finds an impossible to decipher comic under his seat, left there by a previous passenger. That two-page spread is worth the price of admission alone.
One librarian of my acquaintance put it far better than I ever could when she said that "the ending is both perfect and slightly infuriating." You may as well say the same for the book itself. If the book is some kind of allegory then it's pushing its lesson so lightly you won't be disturbed in the slightest. To put it another way, this is the book that a decade from now college freshmen will hand prospective mates saying (somewhat untruthfully), "This was my favorite book as a kid," so as to test their lovers' resolve. Not the worst fate a book ever suffered. If you wish to feel the kind of frustration that ages like fine wine, here is the answer to your prayers. Guaranteed to, at the very least, put a kink in your brain.
For ages 9-12.
I think it's important to make that note right upfront. Particularly since I'm probably going to break out terms like "bizarre", "peculiar", "odd", "weird", and "eerily strange" (or "strangely eerie" depending on my mood) when describing this book. I will undoubtedly be simultaneously inclined to warn you off of the whole enterprise while luring you in with terms like "artful writing" and "deft turns of phrase". I think that it is safe to say that A Boy and a Bear in a Boat is a study in contrasts. A uniquely British import with an internal logic so fixed and solid that you're willing to go along with it, even when it goes against everything you've come to expect in juvenile fiction. It's Waiting for Godot for kids. Life of Pi for the grade school set. A bit of big picture fiction that dares to challenge reader expectations, even if that reader happens to be nine. It's brilliant and flawed and pretty much the most interesting chapter book fare for children you'll read this year, even when it strikes you as dull. One thing's for certain. There is nothing else quite like it on your library or bookstores shelves.
"Will it take long?" "A little while." A boy steps into a boat captained by a rather large bear. His destination? The other side. At first all appears to be going well. The sea is calm and the sky clear. The boy even takes a nap, only to wake up to find that he has not reached his destination after all. After a couple days pass it seems fairly clear that the bear has gotten the two of them hopelessly lost. Their survival on the high seas takes the form of many small adventures, from teatime to sea monsters, and everything in-between. In the end, the boy and the bear reach a kind of peace and a desire to keep going, no matter what.
Big picture fiction is what I called this book earlier and I stand by that phrase. Once in a great while you'll encounter a novel for children that selects the road less taken, for better or for worse. These tend to be books that try to make child readers really sit down and think. They also tend to be imports. Nothing against American writers or publishers, but the market these days is not exactly inclined to give much space to the more speculative and philosophical titles out there. Not today anyway. In the era of Russell Hoban's The Mouse and His Child I'm certain an American writer could have gotten away with A Boy and a Bear in a Boat easy peasy. These days, not so much. Unless you are dealing with an independent publisher, most big publishers would much rather put out surefire hits than titles where two nameless characters go nowhere for pages on end.
It's the journey, not the destination that counts. Now try telling that to an eight-year-old when you've decided to take the scenic route on any trip. I'll tell you true that I would have hated this book as a child. But then, I was a pretty unimaginative person. I have distinct memories of reaching the end of Stuart Little only to be appalled and disgusted with its ending. And yes, I am about to discuss the ending of A Boy and a Bear in a Boat so consider this your spoiler alert warning, such as it is. I think Shelton's intent here is to make the book so engaging and the small adventures so enticing that kids will root less for the characters to find their way and more for them to continue having adventures. Their quixotic quest, however, may make the mistake of starring two characters so loveable that in spite of the enjoyment you derive from watching them on the page, your desire to see them safe and sound trumps all. And when that happens, expect some serious middle grade reader fury to manifest itself when they reach the last page.
So why stick with it at all? Well it's hard to put in so many words but I suspect it has something to do with the character development. Here you have a boy and a bear, and we don't find out much of anything about them, not even their names. Where's the boy going and does he have a family waiting for him? No idea. Why is the bear the captain of his boat and who was the "Harriet" he named it after? Not explained. Actually, this is sort of a feat of writing in and of itself. Try writing a 294-page story without delving into a character's background even once. Now at the same time, find ways to really highlight what makes these two people tick anyway. Begin their meeting with a low-level animosity that climbs as things go from bad to worse. Now build a believable friendship between them and make it so that you're rooting for them both. Go boy! Go bear! Find that land! Find it, I say!
And the writing . . . oh the writing. It excels, it soars, it flies. Most important of all, it's funny. Shelton has a mad genius for squeezing large drops of humor out of what would otherwise be pretty bleak fare. Starving to death on the high seas is nothing to laugh at, but you'd think otherwise when you read some of the man's lines. For example, when the boy finds some biscuits on a boat the book says, "It was very hard and dry and tasted almost of nothing at all, only not as nice." There are also moments so sad and funny all at once that you end up hooting rather loudly as you read the book on your morning subway ride. The part where the bear has constructed a rather perfect raft with which to save himself and the boy, then proceeds to lose it all thanks to a stiff gust is this pitch perfect moment of clarity that I would hold up as one of the finest funniest bits of humor writing for kids this year.
I was admittedly a little surprised to find that the illustrations were by Shelton himself. Apologies to Mr. Shelton but when I think of long books written by great artists I think of works of nonfiction (We Are the Ship), illustrated novels that rely as much on visual storytelling as narrative (Wonderstruck), or cute animal tales (A Nest for Celeste). What I do not think of is grade school ennui. Shelton's illustrations, by the way, are a godsend in a book such as this. You find yourself relying on them to a certain extent. Sequences that feature bored characters in books are always in danger of boring the readership as well. Shelton's pictures, however, keep eyeballs wide open. They're just the right combination of cartoonish and classic. And for the record I was hugely impressed with a faux Eastern European comic book sequence that takes place after the boy finds an impossible to decipher comic under his seat, left there by a previous passenger. That two-page spread is worth the price of admission alone.
One librarian of my acquaintance put it far better than I ever could when she said that "the ending is both perfect and slightly infuriating." You may as well say the same for the book itself. If the book is some kind of allegory then it's pushing its lesson so lightly you won't be disturbed in the slightest. To put it another way, this is the book that a decade from now college freshmen will hand prospective mates saying (somewhat untruthfully), "This was my favorite book as a kid," so as to test their lovers' resolve. Not the worst fate a book ever suffered. If you wish to feel the kind of frustration that ages like fine wine, here is the answer to your prayers. Guaranteed to, at the very least, put a kink in your brain.
For ages 9-12.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 24, 2013
One of the most debated books on this year's Carnegie shortlist! I was familiar with Dave Shelton from his excellent comic Good Dog, Bad Dog so looked forward to reading it and I loved it. Yes it's beyond weird and I'm not sure how it would go down with children (am currently testing with a colleague's grandchildren) but I loved it.
A boy wants to go "just over to the other side" and gets into a boat captained by a bear who at first appears to be a competent seafarer, though fairly rapidly we realise he is anything but.
Strange, sometimes bleak but more often very funny, other readers have compared it to The Little Prince and Jonathan L Seagull (neither of which I liked)- it reminded me of Waiting for Godot!
A boy wants to go "just over to the other side" and gets into a boat captained by a bear who at first appears to be a competent seafarer, though fairly rapidly we realise he is anything but.
Strange, sometimes bleak but more often very funny, other readers have compared it to The Little Prince and Jonathan L Seagull (neither of which I liked)- it reminded me of Waiting for Godot!
November 3, 2016
Я тут в тихом восторге. Шикарная книга, не понимаю почему на гр такой низкий рейтинг. Хотя, если подумать, то она не для понимания всех. Слишком тонок юмор (обожаю такое), ирония (вагон) и слишком напряжно искать смысл. Но он там есть. Нужно только включить мозги.
Хочу издание себе на полочку. Русское от Поляндрии стоит как три обычные книги, но оно отличное. Качество что самого издания что перевода превосходное.
Итоговая оценка: 8 из 10 (за не в тему открытый конец)
Хочу издание себе на полочку. Русское от Поляндрии стоит как три обычные книги, но оно отличное. Качество что самого издания что перевода превосходное.
Итоговая оценка: 8 из 10 (за не в тему открытый конец)
December 5, 2018
2.5 stars
This is the oddest existentialism story for kids. It had a “No Exit” (Sartre?) feeling to it and made me quite anxious. I thought it was going to be a quick sweet story, which it sort of is, but then I found the ending far too unresolved for my taste. It’s also a lesson in minimalism and making due with less I suppose, but quite odd. I am never getting into a row boat with a bear unless I can see the shores the whole time.
This is the oddest existentialism story for kids. It had a “No Exit” (Sartre?) feeling to it and made me quite anxious. I thought it was going to be a quick sweet story, which it sort of is, but then I found the ending far too unresolved for my taste. It’s also a lesson in minimalism and making due with less I suppose, but quite odd. I am never getting into a row boat with a bear unless I can see the shores the whole time.
May 8, 2012
It's fiendishly hard to know what to make of this one. It's bold and audacious, and I don't think it entirely works, but it's hard not to admire its courage.
This is a 300-page book with only two characters. Neither is given a name; they are only referred to as Boy and Bear. The plot is maddeningly obscure in almost all its essential points. The Boy, for reasons left entirely unexplained, asks the Bear to row him across an unnamed body of water, to a destination identified only as "the other side." Their attempts to reach that other side constitute the entirety of the book.
The journey drags on for days and days. They run out of food on multiple occasions. For huge swathes of the book, nothing is happening at all; the Bear rows, and the Boy attempts to find some way in which to occupy himself.
There is a comic book in the boat, left there by a previous passenger. It is in a language the boy doesn't know, but he looks at it over and over again anyway. And...that's it. No explanation is ever given. Similarly, the duo arrive eventually on a Mary Celeste-like abandoned ship. It seems that something is going to happen...but nothing does. The ship simply exists, at least until the boy puts a hole in it while trying to make the bear tea on a gas stove.
And at the end of the book, after a storm has destroyed the rowboat, and the Boy and the Bear are left floating alone in the ocean, the Boy begins rowing the bear, with a ukelele as an oar. And...that's it. Land is never sighted. The journey is never completed. Frankly, I've never read a children's book with less of a conclusion, and the only books of any kind that were even comparable are things like Kafka's The Castle.
Parts of the book have a certain humor to them, aided by Shelton's drawings; other parts of it have a hypnotic, meditative quality. The prose, in places, is beautiful. But I don't feel like it ever truly confronts its insularity, or even hints at a reason for the lack of any kind of context. I compare it to something like Anne Ursu's book Breadcrumbs, which also leaves any number of things unexplained, but does so because they're things the protagonist has no way to know. Some of the things in A Boy and A Bear in a Boat could fit into this category, such as the parts with the abandoned ship, but it's hard to figure a reason the Boy's journey remains so obscure other than trying to be too artsy.
I have no idea who the audience for this book would be; nearly all middle-grade readers will likely be frustrated by the dreamlike, molasses-like pace and the lack of anything like an ending, and adult readers who enjoy Calvino and Kafka and the more inaccessible bits of Eco will probably find that the book doesn't explore the interior of its characters in enough depth to be interesting. But you have to give Shelton credit for trying something different, so I'll give it three stars as a compromise.
This is a 300-page book with only two characters. Neither is given a name; they are only referred to as Boy and Bear. The plot is maddeningly obscure in almost all its essential points. The Boy, for reasons left entirely unexplained, asks the Bear to row him across an unnamed body of water, to a destination identified only as "the other side." Their attempts to reach that other side constitute the entirety of the book.
The journey drags on for days and days. They run out of food on multiple occasions. For huge swathes of the book, nothing is happening at all; the Bear rows, and the Boy attempts to find some way in which to occupy himself.
There is a comic book in the boat, left there by a previous passenger. It is in a language the boy doesn't know, but he looks at it over and over again anyway. And...that's it. No explanation is ever given. Similarly, the duo arrive eventually on a Mary Celeste-like abandoned ship. It seems that something is going to happen...but nothing does. The ship simply exists, at least until the boy puts a hole in it while trying to make the bear tea on a gas stove.
And at the end of the book, after a storm has destroyed the rowboat, and the Boy and the Bear are left floating alone in the ocean, the Boy begins rowing the bear, with a ukelele as an oar. And...that's it. Land is never sighted. The journey is never completed. Frankly, I've never read a children's book with less of a conclusion, and the only books of any kind that were even comparable are things like Kafka's The Castle.
Parts of the book have a certain humor to them, aided by Shelton's drawings; other parts of it have a hypnotic, meditative quality. The prose, in places, is beautiful. But I don't feel like it ever truly confronts its insularity, or even hints at a reason for the lack of any kind of context. I compare it to something like Anne Ursu's book Breadcrumbs, which also leaves any number of things unexplained, but does so because they're things the protagonist has no way to know. Some of the things in A Boy and A Bear in a Boat could fit into this category, such as the parts with the abandoned ship, but it's hard to figure a reason the Boy's journey remains so obscure other than trying to be too artsy.
I have no idea who the audience for this book would be; nearly all middle-grade readers will likely be frustrated by the dreamlike, molasses-like pace and the lack of anything like an ending, and adult readers who enjoy Calvino and Kafka and the more inaccessible bits of Eco will probably find that the book doesn't explore the interior of its characters in enough depth to be interesting. But you have to give Shelton credit for trying something different, so I'll give it three stars as a compromise.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 5, 2012
It seemed to be just one episode of a longer story so it didn't have a proper beginning or ending, it was all just part of the middle. There was no way of knowing what had gone on before or what would happen after. And, actually, the boy didn't have much of a clue about what was going on now.
Is it possible to write a simple, abstract fable largely about a character being bored that is not itself boring? That's the question I kept asking myself as I read this book. For a large part of the story nothing much happens, just the boy sitting in the boat with nothing to do while the bear contentedly rows, sleeps, eats, and has tea. There was no explanation for this situation and no conclusion, it just is. Yet something kept me captivated and reading. And that's not the entire story--there is a plot and eventful things do happen--but it's largely a story of isolation and inactivity. Part Zen, part Existentialism, and part Joe Versus the Volcano. It's not the kind of story you can really think about or analyze, it's one you feel; I don't know what I liked about it or why, but I did. And that's enough.
Is it possible to write a simple, abstract fable largely about a character being bored that is not itself boring? That's the question I kept asking myself as I read this book. For a large part of the story nothing much happens, just the boy sitting in the boat with nothing to do while the bear contentedly rows, sleeps, eats, and has tea. There was no explanation for this situation and no conclusion, it just is. Yet something kept me captivated and reading. And that's not the entire story--there is a plot and eventful things do happen--but it's largely a story of isolation and inactivity. Part Zen, part Existentialism, and part Joe Versus the Volcano. It's not the kind of story you can really think about or analyze, it's one you feel; I don't know what I liked about it or why, but I did. And that's enough.
November 11, 2014
This is one of the slowest, least interesting, most boring kids' books I've read. Those attributes are even more pronounced and disappointing because the cover leads one to expect an exciting adventure. The illustrations are excellent, and I would love to read a picture book by Shelton, but I don't think I'll be recommending his novel to anyone. It felt much like a text you'd be required to read for a college philosophy class, not like a novel aimed at middle schoolers... and it held my attention about as well as my college philosophy texts did, which is to say not very well. As for the ending, or lack thereof -- while I myself prefer happy endings, I know some stories can't end happily. However, I think every story should at least have a resolution of SOME kind, especially a story for kids.
I appreciate that Shelton experimented with something outside the norm in this, but this type of book would probably work better for adult fiction, or even YA, than for the middle-school demographic.
I appreciate that Shelton experimented with something outside the norm in this, but this type of book would probably work better for adult fiction, or even YA, than for the middle-school demographic.
abandoned
July 17, 2014It's hard not to be bored by a book that keeps telling us how bored the boy is. I can't be bothered to try, no matter how much I liked the cover.
June 25, 2012
A boy on his own seeks to cross a body of water from a bear in a small boat. The bear is very proud of his boat and assures the boy that the crossing will take no time at all. Unfortunately, "unforeseeable anomalies" occur and the crossing takes much longer than expected.
I was looking forward to reading this book when I read the description. I thought it would be a quick, fun, and light read that I would be able to recommend to reluctant middle-grade readers. It was a quick and light read, but it was not fun. All the "unforeseeable anomalies" became stressful to read. The boy and the bear ran out of food and water (and by the end of the book, that was the least of their worries).
I don't expect a happy ending for all the books I read, often the best stories don't have a happy ending, but I thought that this book deserved a happy ending because of all the trials and tribulations that the two characters went through. But, I was disappointed. I don't consider the ending to be happy, in fact, I didn't think it was much of an ending at all. I hope that the author didn't leave it as a cliffhanger in hopes of writing a sequel.
I was looking forward to reading this book when I read the description. I thought it would be a quick, fun, and light read that I would be able to recommend to reluctant middle-grade readers. It was a quick and light read, but it was not fun. All the "unforeseeable anomalies" became stressful to read. The boy and the bear ran out of food and water (and by the end of the book, that was the least of their worries).
I don't expect a happy ending for all the books I read, often the best stories don't have a happy ending, but I thought that this book deserved a happy ending because of all the trials and tribulations that the two characters went through. But, I was disappointed. I don't consider the ending to be happy, in fact, I didn't think it was much of an ending at all. I hope that the author didn't leave it as a cliffhanger in hopes of writing a sequel.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 25, 2013
3 1/2 stars. This book is aptly titled. "Waiting for Godot" came to mind as I read it aloud to my 9 year old. While the plot is thin on excitement, the story does offer up some very good dialogue between the boy and the bear. And the bear had some great one-liners that made us laugh out loud. ("Do you think it was something he ate?" said the bear.) Funny stuff. We really liked some parts but not enough parts to give it 4 stars. And we were left wanting a little bit more of an ending. It was hard to leave the boy and the bear still adrift at sea.
May 30, 2021
Quirky, absurd, indefinable. A story with no beginning and no end but whose illustrations ( by the author) perfectly convey the ups and downs of the journey. A book with its own internal logic that requires a childlike sense of wonder to appreciate. A parable of life perhaps? Gradually all security and external support is stripped away yet what endures is greater than what is lost.
July 17, 2013
There’s a boy, and a bear, and they are on a boat. No, not “on a boat”. Actually, more kind of in a boat. A rowboat. Named Harriet.
Bears are not cuddly. They are ferocious wild animals that really just want to be left alone, to roam through the wild and eat fish and have bear sex. So I’m not quite sure how we went from bears mauling people to teddy bears and anthropomorphic bears who wear boots or hang around with that Christopher Robin kid. I wonder if there is a middle, transition state out there somewhere … a kind of supercharged Pooh Bear on steroids, looking to defend his territory and steal your camp food.
Huh. I just Googled for that last thing, and … I don’t recommend that you do the same. I am now scarred for life.
Literature has a long, rich history of irresponsible parents letting boys get into boats captained by a vicious animal. (Yes, I maintain both that one book constitutes a tradition and that Richard Parker was the captain of that lifeboat. Because he totally was.) My initial reaction was, “Gee, I wonder when this boy will be eaten?” What followed was a long series of suspenseful events in which Dave Shelton expertly manipulated this expectation to the point where I was completely hooked.
First there was the sandwich debacle. The boy wakes up after dozing off only to find it’s the next day, and instead of arriving at their destination, they are lost. Well, he thinks they are lost. Captain Bear insists they are not—but you can’t trust a bear to read a map, because bears can’t read. Everyone knows this. Also, as it turns out, the map is actually just a massive blue rectangle with a grid system overlaid. The bear has several such maps, one of which has a rock marked on it. I can only assume that the bear hired a particularly lazy cartographer. Or perhaps just one who wasn’t very good.
So the boy and the bear are lost, with their boat. They use up their provisions until they are down to the Very Last Sandwich (capitalization not mine). It’s not a very appealing sandwich, so they lock it in a lunchbox, until it escapes. It then becomes Chekov’s Very Last Sandwich, in the sense that it reappears later in the book to wreak further havoc and destruction. Meanwhile, the boy and the bear need to resort to some creative fishing to survive, which lands them in a different sort of trouble. As the hazards mount and their relationship deteriorates, it starts to look like the boy and the bear will never get home.
There is never a dull moment in this book, despite the boy’s protests to the contrary. And accompanying these action-packed paragraphs are pages of beautiful illustrations from Shelton himself. Indeed, though the story itself is a little simplistic, the illustrations definitely augment it. Everything from the boy’s grumpy looks to the bear’s particular sense of detached bumbling comes alive in Shelton’s hand.
Considering its audience, I suppose this is a satisfying book. I think it could overstay its welcome, and Shelton doesn’t always raise the stakes; he merely changes them. The boy and the bear aren’t on an adventure or a quest so much as a series of unforeseen events, and while it’s an entertaining read, at the end there isn’t really much of a sense of accomplishment. Perhaps it’s true that the boy learned something. But we’ll never know, of course, since the bear ate him.
Kidding.
I can only express some disappointment that A Boy and a Bear on a Boat is rather lonely among this year’s Carnegie nominees. I’d like to pitch my tent behind this endearing little tale, but there really are just a few other novels that captured my attention more, if only because they are for the older crowd. This is monumentally unfair, and I expect that Shelton would be entirely justified in dispatching his crack team of aqua-bears to dispose of me. If you’re reading this with someone among the target audience, I suspect you’ll enjoy it. And it could make for an interesting conversation starter, especially with the cliffhangers that Shelton often uses to end his chapters. This book isn’t quite in my wheelhouse, but I enjoyed it anyway, and you might be surprised too.
Bears are not cuddly. They are ferocious wild animals that really just want to be left alone, to roam through the wild and eat fish and have bear sex. So I’m not quite sure how we went from bears mauling people to teddy bears and anthropomorphic bears who wear boots or hang around with that Christopher Robin kid. I wonder if there is a middle, transition state out there somewhere … a kind of supercharged Pooh Bear on steroids, looking to defend his territory and steal your camp food.
Huh. I just Googled for that last thing, and … I don’t recommend that you do the same. I am now scarred for life.
Literature has a long, rich history of irresponsible parents letting boys get into boats captained by a vicious animal. (Yes, I maintain both that one book constitutes a tradition and that Richard Parker was the captain of that lifeboat. Because he totally was.) My initial reaction was, “Gee, I wonder when this boy will be eaten?” What followed was a long series of suspenseful events in which Dave Shelton expertly manipulated this expectation to the point where I was completely hooked.
First there was the sandwich debacle. The boy wakes up after dozing off only to find it’s the next day, and instead of arriving at their destination, they are lost. Well, he thinks they are lost. Captain Bear insists they are not—but you can’t trust a bear to read a map, because bears can’t read. Everyone knows this. Also, as it turns out, the map is actually just a massive blue rectangle with a grid system overlaid. The bear has several such maps, one of which has a rock marked on it. I can only assume that the bear hired a particularly lazy cartographer. Or perhaps just one who wasn’t very good.
So the boy and the bear are lost, with their boat. They use up their provisions until they are down to the Very Last Sandwich (capitalization not mine). It’s not a very appealing sandwich, so they lock it in a lunchbox, until it escapes. It then becomes Chekov’s Very Last Sandwich, in the sense that it reappears later in the book to wreak further havoc and destruction. Meanwhile, the boy and the bear need to resort to some creative fishing to survive, which lands them in a different sort of trouble. As the hazards mount and their relationship deteriorates, it starts to look like the boy and the bear will never get home.
There is never a dull moment in this book, despite the boy’s protests to the contrary. And accompanying these action-packed paragraphs are pages of beautiful illustrations from Shelton himself. Indeed, though the story itself is a little simplistic, the illustrations definitely augment it. Everything from the boy’s grumpy looks to the bear’s particular sense of detached bumbling comes alive in Shelton’s hand.
Considering its audience, I suppose this is a satisfying book. I think it could overstay its welcome, and Shelton doesn’t always raise the stakes; he merely changes them. The boy and the bear aren’t on an adventure or a quest so much as a series of unforeseen events, and while it’s an entertaining read, at the end there isn’t really much of a sense of accomplishment. Perhaps it’s true that the boy learned something. But we’ll never know, of course, since the bear ate him.
Kidding.
I can only express some disappointment that A Boy and a Bear on a Boat is rather lonely among this year’s Carnegie nominees. I’d like to pitch my tent behind this endearing little tale, but there really are just a few other novels that captured my attention more, if only because they are for the older crowd. This is monumentally unfair, and I expect that Shelton would be entirely justified in dispatching his crack team of aqua-bears to dispose of me. If you’re reading this with someone among the target audience, I suspect you’ll enjoy it. And it could make for an interesting conversation starter, especially with the cliffhangers that Shelton often uses to end his chapters. This book isn’t quite in my wheelhouse, but I enjoyed it anyway, and you might be surprised too.
March 15, 2020
Có một comment về cuốn này nói rằng "A boy and a bear in a boat" giống "Waiting for Godot". Nhận xét này thật rất đúng vì nửa đầu quyển sách là phong cách hiện sinh chán chết. Có lẽ nó hợp với nội dung câu chuyện vì đi trên biển mà bình lặng thì thật là chán chết. Với trẻ con đoạn này sẽ hợp để đi ngủ.
Rất may sau đó có quái vật, tàu ma, mất mát và tai nạn. Tình tiết trở nên sôi động hơn chút, thú vị đến mức có khi gấu cảm thấy tuyệt vọng.
Truyện đâu đó phảng phất ẩn dụ về cuộc đời. Lắm khi bình ổn đến phát chán, lắm khi bế tắc bất ngờ đến nản lòng. Lắm khi cuộc đời đẩy ta vào trớ trêu khi phải đi thuyền mà một con gấu ngớ ngẩn chèo. Lắm khi ta hủy hoại tất cả vì dù rằng ta có khôn ngoan thì ta vẫn là một cậu bé cẩu thả và vụng về.
Điều may mắn là gấu không cằn nhằn, nhiếc mắng, nói xéo, đá đểu hay hành hạ cậu bé vì sai lầm. Và cậu bé không bỏ cuộc để rồi tìm ra hy vọng khi gấu tuyệt vọng. Chắc có lẽ câu trả lời là tập trung vào hiện tại để tìm ra giải pháp.
Mình đánh dấu khá nhiều từ mới nhưng ngay cả khi ko biết thì người đọc vẫn có thể hiểu được hầu như toàn bộ câu truyện. Đoạn kết lại một cú hiện sinh nữa, kết thật lửng.
Rất may sau đó có quái vật, tàu ma, mất mát và tai nạn. Tình tiết trở nên sôi động hơn chút, thú vị đến mức có khi gấu cảm thấy tuyệt vọng.
Truyện đâu đó phảng phất ẩn dụ về cuộc đời. Lắm khi bình ổn đến phát chán, lắm khi bế tắc bất ngờ đến nản lòng. Lắm khi cuộc đời đẩy ta vào trớ trêu khi phải đi thuyền mà một con gấu ngớ ngẩn chèo. Lắm khi ta hủy hoại tất cả vì dù rằng ta có khôn ngoan thì ta vẫn là một cậu bé cẩu thả và vụng về.
Điều may mắn là gấu không cằn nhằn, nhiếc mắng, nói xéo, đá đểu hay hành hạ cậu bé vì sai lầm. Và cậu bé không bỏ cuộc để rồi tìm ra hy vọng khi gấu tuyệt vọng. Chắc có lẽ câu trả lời là tập trung vào hiện tại để tìm ra giải pháp.
Mình đánh dấu khá nhiều từ mới nhưng ngay cả khi ko biết thì người đọc vẫn có thể hiểu được hầu như toàn bộ câu truyện. Đoạn kết lại một cú hiện sinh nữa, kết thật lửng.
March 21, 2013
I loved this book, although it is about as quirky as they come and, I suspect, will not appeal to everyone. Just as the title says, it is about a boy and a bear in a boat. Nothing more, nothing less. Why they are in the boat, where the boy was trying to go, why a bear is piloting this boat....well, none of that is explained. Even though this is a children's book, I think many adults will enjoy it as much, if not more, than the middle grade readers at which it is aimed. As an adult, I kept looking at the story, thinking 'what does all of this mean?'. It feels like a sort of metaphor for life itself. Here we are, plunked into this ocean of life, not given much of a map, guided by an affable, but sometimes equally clueless parent/teacher/mentor, heading we know not where, and dealing with endless "unforeseeable anomalies" along the way, as best we can. Does that sound familiar to you , too? The ending comes as a real surprise. As the pages wound down, I kept thinking, "well, he really doesn't have much time left to wrap this up". Here is an author who doesn't conform to expectations though. I have a feeling Mr. Shelton was telling this story with a bit of a chuckle. (I also loved all the Britishisms. Thank goodness they didn't doctor this up for the American market!)
**This book is now on the short list for the Carnegie Medal for children's literature.
**This book is now on the short list for the Carnegie Medal for children's literature.
September 18, 2014
I read this because a teacher told me her class of 9-10 year olds loved it and they spent a whole term on the book. I loved it too but can't explain why, it has a mysterious property. A bit like 'Life of Pi' for children without the backstory. The teacher used it for her philosophy sessions and found the children were interested in speculating what the book was meant to be about. Lots came out about the nature of relationships, in particular unequal friendships and interdependence. I also imagine that the 8-10 age group it is aimed at would find it an anger training way to learn about the ocean - the fact that the horizon can just stretch away for days without sight of land, you get a real grasp of the enormity of our seas which cover 70% of the planet and the power of the waves and storms and elements from this book. The fragility of life and the resilience of the characters when facing adversity. Can't wait for my grandson to be old enough to read it. It has made me think and wonder what the author had in mind and what has happened to the boy and
The bear and that is a sign of a powerful story. It is post-modernism for children.
The bear and that is a sign of a powerful story. It is post-modernism for children.
May 11, 2017
I feel as if I should review this in some way, and I don't exactly know how to review it. This was a read aloud with my 5.5 year old. I sort of ended up getting it 'accidentally', i.e., I thought I had ordered other things on hold, but this was one of the ones that came in and once he'd seen it he was interested.
It's a very quiet story in many ways, moving from mundane event to somewhat less mundane event, and without a clear-cut ending. Another reviewer said Joe Vs. the Volcano, and I can see that, precisely. The five star rating was my son's rating for it. He enjoyed it far more than I expected he would, but he is into adventure stories right now, and this does qualify as that.
I would probably typically suggest it for a slightly older audience, certainly if they're reading it themselves they would need to be older, but there wasn't anything offensive for a 5 year old, just some slightly scary moments that a child who has watched The Lion King or another Disney fairy tale can easily handle.
It's a very quiet story in many ways, moving from mundane event to somewhat less mundane event, and without a clear-cut ending. Another reviewer said Joe Vs. the Volcano, and I can see that, precisely. The five star rating was my son's rating for it. He enjoyed it far more than I expected he would, but he is into adventure stories right now, and this does qualify as that.
I would probably typically suggest it for a slightly older audience, certainly if they're reading it themselves they would need to be older, but there wasn't anything offensive for a 5 year old, just some slightly scary moments that a child who has watched The Lion King or another Disney fairy tale can easily handle.
March 30, 2015
2.5 actually
A note I made half way through: "Reviews and awards suggest premier league. And I suppose it is. But it's more Leicester versus Hull than United versus Arsenal. It's good, but it's much better if you come from Leicester...or Hull. (on page 150 of 304) "
I hoped it would get better. It didn't. In fact I came to realise I had put it a couple of divisions higher than it merits. (But so have a lot of other people!). If you aren't expecting much then it's an OK story. If you're looking for profundity or allegory, try The Phantom Tollbooth or The Wizard of Oz, or Alice or even Life of Pi. It seems to be better than it is and that is enough for some people, so it's probably enough for this book.
I'm glad I finished it. Mainly because it means I don't have to read any more of it.
Would I have liked it more if it hadn't been so garlanded? Probably not. I would have been less disappointed but not necessarily any more impressed.
A note I made half way through: "Reviews and awards suggest premier league. And I suppose it is. But it's more Leicester versus Hull than United versus Arsenal. It's good, but it's much better if you come from Leicester...or Hull. (on page 150 of 304) "
I hoped it would get better. It didn't. In fact I came to realise I had put it a couple of divisions higher than it merits. (But so have a lot of other people!). If you aren't expecting much then it's an OK story. If you're looking for profundity or allegory, try The Phantom Tollbooth or The Wizard of Oz, or Alice or even Life of Pi. It seems to be better than it is and that is enough for some people, so it's probably enough for this book.
I'm glad I finished it. Mainly because it means I don't have to read any more of it.
Would I have liked it more if it hadn't been so garlanded? Probably not. I would have been less disappointed but not necessarily any more impressed.
December 6, 2014
I honestly feel sorry for any kid who has the misfortune to read this book.
This book claimed it was ORIGINAL and ENTERTAINING (emphasis not mine) - it was not.
HILARIOUS - it was not.
With illustrations TO DIE FOR - nope.
If you get given this book you are LUCKY. Share it aloud: BLESSED - HELL no (emphasis mine).
Own it: others are JEALOUS - *strangled noises*
No story line, detestable characters (especially the boy) and, if that wasn't enough, the BLOODY WRITING. The author clearly thought the abundance of synonyms and antonyms and hard words was impressive. IT'S A CHILDREN'S BOOK FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE! And at times he was so repetitive it felt like he was trying to reach a word count. This book IRKED me. I sincerely regret wasting time, money, and patience on it.
This book claimed it was ORIGINAL and ENTERTAINING (emphasis not mine) - it was not.
HILARIOUS - it was not.
With illustrations TO DIE FOR - nope.
If you get given this book you are LUCKY. Share it aloud: BLESSED - HELL no (emphasis mine).
Own it: others are JEALOUS - *strangled noises*
No story line, detestable characters (especially the boy) and, if that wasn't enough, the BLOODY WRITING. The author clearly thought the abundance of synonyms and antonyms and hard words was impressive. IT'S A CHILDREN'S BOOK FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE! And at times he was so repetitive it felt like he was trying to reach a word count. This book IRKED me. I sincerely regret wasting time, money, and patience on it.
October 9, 2020
Umm, yeah, no... that sums up my feelings after I finished this book. Maybe it’s the book or maybe it’s me, but there was no connection between the two of us.
I have a feeling that there is a metaphor hidden behind this endless, pointless story, that a realist like me just can’t get hold of. I never reached a point at where I found myself able to understand what the author was trying to lay out in front of me. And that, I’m very sure, is the reason I felt so unenthusiastic about the book in general.
From my point of view, if you feel like wasting a bit of time reading about a bear, a boy, a boat, endless masses of water and a few strange happenings every now and then, or if you’re a complete different kind of a person than I am, this book is for you.
I have a feeling that there is a metaphor hidden behind this endless, pointless story, that a realist like me just can’t get hold of. I never reached a point at where I found myself able to understand what the author was trying to lay out in front of me. And that, I’m very sure, is the reason I felt so unenthusiastic about the book in general.
From my point of view, if you feel like wasting a bit of time reading about a bear, a boy, a boat, endless masses of water and a few strange happenings every now and then, or if you’re a complete different kind of a person than I am, this book is for you.
October 31, 2015
Every month I read a book recommended by my son Corey... This month for September it was this great book. I can see exactly why my son loved it and couldn't stop telling me about it. It was a lovely tale of an unlikely friendship. It was touching and heart warming and really enjoyable. It had me laughing at times. The banter between the boy and the bear sometimes came across quite comedy sketch with a sense of a dry sense if humour which I loved. The illustrations were perfect.. All done by the author himself.
Defiantly recommend for both children and adults to read or read with their children. I don't recommend eating any of the bears sandwiches! He he he
Defiantly recommend for both children and adults to read or read with their children. I don't recommend eating any of the bears sandwiches! He he he
December 29, 2012
This is an odd little book for sure. Shelton's illustrations have some of the whimsy of Peggy Fortnum's classic drawings of Paddington Bear, but the story of this unnamed ursine and lad, though grounded in a wealth of specific physical detail, is almost certainly too amorphous for most children's taste. The book plainly operates at a symbolic level, but it's not as obvious about at it as, say, Jonathan Livingstone Seagull or The Old Man and the Sea. It's like an unlikely meeting of Paddington and Candide, or perhaps Godot's patient pals. I liked it quite a bit.
June 21, 2013
Utterly lovely, odd and really rather magical. This book is firstly drop dead gorgeous at first sight (and was winner of the 2013 Kitschies Inky Tentacle cover award).
The insides don't disappoint either. The story is simple, slow and loveable (a bit like the bear himself) and draws you into its own little world effortlessly.
The purposeful lack of detail gives it a dreamlike quality and a feeling of being as lost as the characters in the story. All floating on a sea of well-chosen words and gorgeous illustrations.
I love this book.
The insides don't disappoint either. The story is simple, slow and loveable (a bit like the bear himself) and draws you into its own little world effortlessly.
The purposeful lack of detail gives it a dreamlike quality and a feeling of being as lost as the characters in the story. All floating on a sea of well-chosen words and gorgeous illustrations.
I love this book.
April 6, 2013
Really sweet book. I loved how the spirit of it was so positive. They didn't always know where they were going or what they were doing but they just ploughed on. I had fun finding possible metaphors for what the adventures represented. In contrast I also thought that the brutalness and cruelty of life was expressed really well.
A great adventure story for children, and a lovely book for older readers.
A great adventure story for children, and a lovely book for older readers.
June 11, 2013
I don't know what it was about this story, but I just couldn't get into it. The illustrations were awesome and the humor was great, but I just had to push myself to finish it. Maybe it was too existential for my personal taste or I wasn't in the right place for it, but I just was not feeling this book. I would normally put it at 2 stars, but in this case I don't think it's fair to the author. This book just may not be my cup of tea...
January 10, 2017
Basically, everything you need to know about this book is written in the title: there’s a boy and a bear, and they’re in a boat. There’s a lot of boredom and hunger, and endless rowing on the way to somewhere. The thing I liked most was The Very Last Sandwich.
I definitely should have done my research before picking this up, though. Apparently the whole book is a metaphor for life. Interesting concept, but BORING.
I definitely should have done my research before picking this up, though. Apparently the whole book is a metaphor for life. Interesting concept, but BORING.
September 21, 2013
Fantastic book. 'Life of Pi' crossed with 'Waiting for Godot' for children. Possibly the coolest kids' book cover design ever on this hardback edition. Not surprised they chose a different approach for the paperback though :-)
Read
May 8, 2012Not sure what to make of this one.
April 3, 2013
One of the weirdest books ever. If you haven't read it, put everything else aside and read
Displaying 1 - 30 of 209 reviews