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Bear Against Time
Bear's inability to tell time results in chaos, so the human family he lives with teaches him to read a clock--but running on schedule means more time for activities and less for rest.
48 pages, Hardcover
First published October 3, 2018
About the author
Jean-Luc Fromental
74 books14 followersAprès dix ans dans l'édition, Jean-Luc Fromental s'adonne à la presse, la publicité, la télévision et bien sûr, la bande dessinée. En 1981, il crée (avec José-Louis Bocquet) L'Année de la bande dessinée. En 1983 il lance le bimestriel Métal Aventure et prend en 1985-86 la rédaction en chef du mythique Métal hurlant. Il fait ses premières armes dans le dessin animé en 1986 comme co-scénariste de la série Bleu, l'Enfant de la Terre, réalisée par Philippe Druillet, puis travaille en 1991 sur le projet de long-métrage de Moebius, Starwatcher. En 1994, il conçoit la série animée Il était une fois pour 26 dessinateurs de BD. Il crée d’autres séries pour la télévision : Witch World en 1997, avec Colin Hawkins, Les Renés, avec Hervé Di Rosa en 2000, et Mandarine & Cow en 2007. En 2001, il participe à la série Lucky Luke, en tant que directeur d’écriture et scénariste. Il s’oriente vers le long-métrage d’animation, avec l’adaptation du roman de Roy Lewis Pourquoi j’ai (pas) mangé mon père que réalisera Djamel Debouzze en 2012, le scénario de Loulou et autres loups (2002), puis avec Solotareff, du Secret de Loulou annoncé pour 2013. Il reste en contact avec le papier, publiant régulièrement pour la jeunesse, notamment le très remarqué 365 Pingouins avec Joëlle Jolivet. En 2003, il revient vers l'édition en créant au sein de la maison Denoël le label de bande dessinée adulte Denoël Graphic qui a publié notamment Tamara Drewe de Posy Simmonds ou La Genèse de Robert Crumb. Jean-Luc Fromental s’est aussi illustré comme scénariste de bande dessinée : il a écrit pour des artistes tels que Floc’h, Loustal, Stanislas (Les Aventures d’Hergé), Chaland, Blexbolex, Miles Hyman, Jano. Il est l’auteur d’une trentaine de romans, récits de voyage, contes et bande dessinées.
Texte © Dargaud
Texte © Dargaud
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
September 10, 2020
This rating/review is based on an advanced copy from Netgalley and Norton Young Readers.
I was drawn to this book because the cover reminded me of Seymour Chwast and I like reading picture books in translation. It's easy to look at a book like this and just think it's a cute book about a bear learning to tell time. Bear is late to all kinds of things (school, lunch, gym class, the bus home) and in a few very cluttered pages learns how to tell time. Clocks are sort of visible throughout, but not prominent or readable. Shouldn't there be clocks in the subsequent pages so Bear (and the reader) can practice what this new skill? This is aside from the fact that most of the problems Bear experiences because he's late are because the people around him aren't telling him. The book visually proposes that he's part of a family, but they clearly treat Bear very differently than they do their other children despite the fact that he goes to the same school, takes the same bus, and shares a room with them. Whatever. It's a picture book, right? Why does that matter?
It does matter. Bear misses lunch (despite the fact that his entire class leaves?) and on his way home (walking, because he missed the bus) he stops at a bakery and eats all the pastries and is arrested. His family has to come and pick him up, at which point the father says to Bear, "If you do that again, we won't be able to keep you." Yikes bikes. A lot of children are adopted or in the foster system and I cannot imagine how a kid would feel hearing those words. This is a bear who speaks and has agency, who is (sort of) treated as their child but is clearly not. The dad knows it, Bear knows it, and the dad wants Bear to know it -- effectively weaponizing Bear's outsider status against him. Why not something like you'll get in trouble? Why isn't this a conversation between Bear and the dad? Every single word kids hear helps to build their brains, so why would you even plant these seeds in their heads?? It's a tiny moment, but our lives are made up of tiny moments!
Additionally there are only 4 non-white people in the background (and that is a generous count). Perhaps it's because the colors in the ARC are a bit muted, but I'm not sure how much of a difference brightness would make.
I was drawn to this book because the cover reminded me of Seymour Chwast and I like reading picture books in translation. It's easy to look at a book like this and just think it's a cute book about a bear learning to tell time. Bear is late to all kinds of things (school, lunch, gym class, the bus home) and in a few very cluttered pages learns how to tell time. Clocks are sort of visible throughout, but not prominent or readable. Shouldn't there be clocks in the subsequent pages so Bear (and the reader) can practice what this new skill? This is aside from the fact that most of the problems Bear experiences because he's late are because the people around him aren't telling him. The book visually proposes that he's part of a family, but they clearly treat Bear very differently than they do their other children despite the fact that he goes to the same school, takes the same bus, and shares a room with them. Whatever. It's a picture book, right? Why does that matter?
It does matter. Bear misses lunch (despite the fact that his entire class leaves?) and on his way home (walking, because he missed the bus) he stops at a bakery and eats all the pastries and is arrested. His family has to come and pick him up, at which point the father says to Bear, "If you do that again, we won't be able to keep you." Yikes bikes. A lot of children are adopted or in the foster system and I cannot imagine how a kid would feel hearing those words. This is a bear who speaks and has agency, who is (sort of) treated as their child but is clearly not. The dad knows it, Bear knows it, and the dad wants Bear to know it -- effectively weaponizing Bear's outsider status against him. Why not something like you'll get in trouble? Why isn't this a conversation between Bear and the dad? Every single word kids hear helps to build their brains, so why would you even plant these seeds in their heads?? It's a tiny moment, but our lives are made up of tiny moments!
Additionally there are only 4 non-white people in the background (and that is a generous count). Perhaps it's because the colors in the ARC are a bit muted, but I'm not sure how much of a difference brightness would make.
July 20, 2020
Een leuk, maar ook vreemd boek over tijd en geen tijd. Ontmoet onze grote, en ietwat onhandige, beer. Hij heeft geen enkel besef van tijd en komt overal te laat en maakt verschillende mensen best boos. Wat ik nou niet aardig vond, want ik wist al van vrij vroeg... deze beer kan gewoon geen klok kijken. En ja, dan kom je te laat. Want hoeveel is nou 15 minuten? Wat zijn minuten? Wat is een uur? Gelukkig komt zijn familie er, na een klein ongelukje, achter wat er is en gaan ze hem helpen. Ik vond het heel leuk geschreven hoe de tijd werd geleerd en ik weet ook zeker dat het niet alleen de beer gaat helpen maar ook kinderen.
Het lijkt daarna goed te gaan met beer, alleen daarna gaat het toch weer niet zo goed en hier zien we ook dat ouders misschien iets minder enthousiast moeten zijn met alles wat hun kroost moet doen. Het einde was erg lief, maar ook wederom weer vreemd.
De illustraties waren erg leuk en ik vond ook de felle kleuren erg mooi.
Het lijkt daarna goed te gaan met beer, alleen daarna gaat het toch weer niet zo goed en hier zien we ook dat ouders misschien iets minder enthousiast moeten zijn met alles wat hun kroost moet doen. Het einde was erg lief, maar ook wederom weer vreemd.
De illustraties waren erg leuk en ik vond ook de felle kleuren erg mooi.
October 16, 2020
I always wonder if I have missed something in the translation, as this was originally French, but this is an odd book, as it appears in English. I can accept that there is a bear living with a family, and that he is going to school, as though that is a totally normal things to do in the city.
But, he is not a child, he is a bear, and in the end, we learn that bears and time don't work well together. That it is more an etherial thing, and bears are better off left to not sticking to a clock.
So, while this could be a book about learning to tell time from an analogue clock, it also appears to be a book saying that time doesn't matter.
What's odd, besides that a bear is going to grade school, is that the bear is left to do whatever he wants. Why is he left alone in the classroom. Why can't he get a late lunch? Why do the children not help him catch the bus. All questions that are answered by saying if he can't tell time, he can't do these things.
So, while I appreciate that this is a book with urgency to teach time, it also has the message that time is not important if you live off the grid.
So, I am a bit torn on this one, but think that it could have been a much simpler book, without all the story of shaming bear.
Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.
But, he is not a child, he is a bear, and in the end, we learn that bears and time don't work well together. That it is more an etherial thing, and bears are better off left to not sticking to a clock.
So, while this could be a book about learning to tell time from an analogue clock, it also appears to be a book saying that time doesn't matter.
What's odd, besides that a bear is going to grade school, is that the bear is left to do whatever he wants. Why is he left alone in the classroom. Why can't he get a late lunch? Why do the children not help him catch the bus. All questions that are answered by saying if he can't tell time, he can't do these things.
So, while I appreciate that this is a book with urgency to teach time, it also has the message that time is not important if you live off the grid.
So, I am a bit torn on this one, but think that it could have been a much simpler book, without all the story of shaming bear.
Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.
January 22, 2021
Este inusitado y curioso cuento infantil, narra como el oso de una familia no sabe organizarse, por su falta de la noción de tiempo, por lo que siempre se mete en líos. Una vez ha escarmentado, parece enderezar su día a día, aprovechando cada minuto de su tiempo. Al caer en el estrés, se da cuenta del verdadero significado del tiempo: no mucho, sino de calidad y vida.
Su original estructura se divide entre aventuras y desventuras del oso, con lecciones impartidas a éste de por medio, sueños Dalisianos, y más desarrollo mediante una agenda visual de actividades en la cual está plasmado nuestro protagonista en acción. Su dibujo, por otro lado, es a crayón, de tonos vívidos y grandeza.
Recomendable a todas luces, a todos por igual, pues es una obra infantil con una gran lección, que, a muchos, y tantas veces, se nos escapa:
“Hay un refrán que dice que el tiempo es oro, pero la felicidad consiste en tomarse tiempo para escuchar tu corazón”
Su original estructura se divide entre aventuras y desventuras del oso, con lecciones impartidas a éste de por medio, sueños Dalisianos, y más desarrollo mediante una agenda visual de actividades en la cual está plasmado nuestro protagonista en acción. Su dibujo, por otro lado, es a crayón, de tonos vívidos y grandeza.
Recomendable a todas luces, a todos por igual, pues es una obra infantil con una gran lección, que, a muchos, y tantas veces, se nos escapa:
“Hay un refrán que dice que el tiempo es oro, pero la felicidad consiste en tomarse tiempo para escuchar tu corazón”
January 22, 2022
I cracked up reading this. The time telling lesson is a brain breaker, but the subsequent illustration characterizes the frustration of learning to tell time. I've always used "count the slices of pie by fives" to teach the minute hand, so the book is genius, lol.
March 24, 2021
Bear's inability to tell time is causing a ruckus in his life, and everyone around him. He's late for everything, so his family decides to teach him how to tell time, using a twelve slice pizza. Bear not only learns to tell time, but it leads to so much more in this story of time.
September 30, 2024
Me encantó demasiado la ilustración del libro, la temática de este cuento es enseñarte a leer el reloj y a decir el tiempo pero aparte cuenta con una historia extensa bastante tierna y divertida.
June 17, 2021
Me llamó la atención lo extenso y la cantidad de informació que contiene. Al verlo como un álbum tan grande, esperaba que fuera dirigido a un público de menor edad. Bonita sorpresa, porque mezcla el formato del álbum con la cantidad de texto apropiada para lectores más intrépidos. De todas maneras, es un libro para mediar; sobre todo si se quiere aprovechar para enseñar a leer la hora.
Es simpático, porque cuando yo me sentí abrumada por tanta información, ¡el oso también! Así que me sentí comprendida en la confusión. Me pongo en el lugar de un niño o una niña enfrentándose al reloj, y creo que el oso captura muy bien las emociones esperadas.
Como suele ser de Amanuta, un lindo trabajo, prolijo y entretenido. Está genial para aprovechar de enseñar (a leer la hora) jugando.
Es simpático, porque cuando yo me sentí abrumada por tanta información, ¡el oso también! Así que me sentí comprendida en la confusión. Me pongo en el lugar de un niño o una niña enfrentándose al reloj, y creo que el oso captura muy bien las emociones esperadas.
Como suele ser de Amanuta, un lindo trabajo, prolijo y entretenido. Está genial para aprovechar de enseñar (a leer la hora) jugando.
September 12, 2020
Lovely book to teach children not only to tell the time but also the importance of being on time and being organised. However, this book also goes a little bit further and opens the door to a more philosophical reading - you could open questions about: the time on the clock and how people/ children feel time, and time passing in our lives. It is a book that can be used, let’s say - many times! The illustrations are engaging and entertaining and meets the storyline well.
January 10, 2021
Do you have students, a child, or a grandchild who needs to learn to tell time? Jean-Luc Fromental’s Bear Against Time could be just what you are looking for to help! Published in France in 2018, this fun story about a human family teaching a bear to tell time has now been translated into English for the first time with cute illustrations by Joëlle Jolievet.
Bear is living with a human family—parents and two children—and attending school. His inability to tell time causes problems all day long. Bear does not get up soon enough to eat breakfast before school, misses the bus, must stay inside to work during recess, arrives in music class with his gym gear, and more. He falls horribly behind in his classes.
When the family has one weekend to teach Bear to tell time, Father gets creative. He draws a large diagram of a pizza sliced into twelve pieces and marked with the numbers on the clock. He teaches bear to count the pizza slices to help him understand the hours on a clock, using a cutout hour hand for practice. After bear has mastered the hours, Father divides each slice of the pizza into five smaller slices to represent the minutes and adds a cutout minute hand for more practice.
By the end of the weekend, Bear has not only learned to tell time, but also been rewarded for his success. Among his rewards is a planner to organize his days. His class rank skyrockets, and he finds himself with free time for extracurricular activities. Unfortunately, the planner and all his new-found free time cause a new problem for Bear. He crams his planner with far too many activities. Having previously taught the word “punctuality,” the book now teaches “burnout.”
Bear Against Time ends happily and with a couple more surprise twists.
Fromental’s story and Jolievet’s illustrations provide a creative and fun way to teach children how to tell time. Reading the book won’t be enough, but will provide an excellent start. With individual practice using this technique, kids should quickly master reading a traditional analog clock.
Thanks to NetGalley, Norton Young Readers/W. W. Norton, and the author and illustrator for providing a review copy of this useful picture book.
Bear is living with a human family—parents and two children—and attending school. His inability to tell time causes problems all day long. Bear does not get up soon enough to eat breakfast before school, misses the bus, must stay inside to work during recess, arrives in music class with his gym gear, and more. He falls horribly behind in his classes.
When the family has one weekend to teach Bear to tell time, Father gets creative. He draws a large diagram of a pizza sliced into twelve pieces and marked with the numbers on the clock. He teaches bear to count the pizza slices to help him understand the hours on a clock, using a cutout hour hand for practice. After bear has mastered the hours, Father divides each slice of the pizza into five smaller slices to represent the minutes and adds a cutout minute hand for more practice.
By the end of the weekend, Bear has not only learned to tell time, but also been rewarded for his success. Among his rewards is a planner to organize his days. His class rank skyrockets, and he finds himself with free time for extracurricular activities. Unfortunately, the planner and all his new-found free time cause a new problem for Bear. He crams his planner with far too many activities. Having previously taught the word “punctuality,” the book now teaches “burnout.”
Bear Against Time ends happily and with a couple more surprise twists.
Fromental’s story and Jolievet’s illustrations provide a creative and fun way to teach children how to tell time. Reading the book won’t be enough, but will provide an excellent start. With individual practice using this technique, kids should quickly master reading a traditional analog clock.
Thanks to NetGalley, Norton Young Readers/W. W. Norton, and the author and illustrator for providing a review copy of this useful picture book.
December 9, 2020
I received an electronic ARC from W. W. Norton & Company through NetGalley.
Charming book to introduce telling time for younger readers plus a bit more.
Bear is constantly late. He wakes up late and the day goes from there. The family he lives with devotes a weekend to teaching him to read a clock and tell time. He finally cracks the code and makes it everywhere on time. The family give him a watch and an agenda and he is ecstatic. A great place to end the book but Fromental has more to say.
Bear becomes so caught up in activities and overscheduling that he collapses and has a breakdown. He returns to the north to rest in quiet. The author goes on to share that he meets someone and they connect and start their own family. Love the ending where he brings his family to meet the family he stayed with.
Fromental's message comes through clearly about overcommitment and our health. This is a book to be appreciated on several levels. Adults may need the reminder about schedules more than children. Everyone needs times of rest. The point is made without hammering it too hard.
The illustrations support the text. I especially love the agenda page illustrations as they get more frantic as Bear fills and overfills his time.
Charming book to introduce telling time for younger readers plus a bit more.
Bear is constantly late. He wakes up late and the day goes from there. The family he lives with devotes a weekend to teaching him to read a clock and tell time. He finally cracks the code and makes it everywhere on time. The family give him a watch and an agenda and he is ecstatic. A great place to end the book but Fromental has more to say.
Bear becomes so caught up in activities and overscheduling that he collapses and has a breakdown. He returns to the north to rest in quiet. The author goes on to share that he meets someone and they connect and start their own family. Love the ending where he brings his family to meet the family he stayed with.
Fromental's message comes through clearly about overcommitment and our health. This is a book to be appreciated on several levels. Adults may need the reminder about schedules more than children. Everyone needs times of rest. The point is made without hammering it too hard.
The illustrations support the text. I especially love the agenda page illustrations as they get more frantic as Bear fills and overfills his time.
August 4, 2021
An odd book that seems to be going in a lot of directions/I was never quite sure why things were happening the way they are. This strange bear which is part of the family but also treated poorly and all his problems come from not being able to tell time? Why couldn't someone at the school tell the bear, who is a student, that lunch is at noon? Wouldn't he just go with this class? Then it's like "Oh this is a book to tell time". But that's not really it either...
Also 95% of the characters in background and otherwise were white.
An extra star because I liked the way his schedulebook looked.
Also 95% of the characters in background and otherwise were white.
An extra star because I liked the way his schedulebook looked.
January 23, 2026
M'ha sembla molt original. Una barreja entre conte i llibre de coneixements en format d'àlbum il·lustrat. Malgrat això la part literària brilla per la seva absència. La part de coneixements està introduïda de forma molt forçada i la part narrativa, no té gaire qualitat.
Tot i això per la seva originalitat i ser un conte que et permet conèixer les hores, és recomanable per a un primer cicle de primària.
Tot i això per la seva originalitat i ser un conte que et permet conèixer les hores, és recomanable per a un primer cicle de primària.
September 30, 2024
Very fun, really clever and beautifully funny.
This is a very peculiar book that teaches you not only of the importance of reading a clock but ACTUALLY teaches you how to do it yourself.
The art is amazing and hilarious page to page, and the characters are very funny and kind.
This is a really good bok for any age.
This is a very peculiar book that teaches you not only of the importance of reading a clock but ACTUALLY teaches you how to do it yourself.
The art is amazing and hilarious page to page, and the characters are very funny and kind.
This is a really good bok for any age.
September 5, 2020
I received this ebook from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Poor bear is never on time to anything. The cute illustrations and storyline really make the reader feel sorry for him, but it is fun to watch and learn along with bear as he learns how to tell time.
Poor bear is never on time to anything. The cute illustrations and storyline really make the reader feel sorry for him, but it is fun to watch and learn along with bear as he learns how to tell time.
April 26, 2021
Bear is always late, until his family teaches him how to read a clock. After learning about the hours of the day Bear fills every day with lots of activities. He burns himself out and finds a bear who doesn't wear a watch and stays with her.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 13, 2022
My suspense of disbelief isn't good enough for this book! It does a fine job of teaching time-telling (though it does so in a very tightly packed couple of spreads), but I'm unclear on how telling time was Bear's issue at all.
September 21, 2026
Bear Against Time is a great picture book for introducing the concept of learning to tell time on a non-digital clock for young readers. The illustrations were bright and different, making it a unique read.
Want to Read
August 5, 2020Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book through Edelweiss.
December 19, 2021
Very quirky story about a bear who learns to tell time and, as a result, over schedules himself into exhaustion. A little too text heavy to be an engaging read aloud.
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September 19, 2024Zaman yönetimi ve saatlerin ogretimi icin guzel bir kitap. 4 renkli olmasi dikkat eksikligi yasayan cocuklar icin ideal bir cozum.
November 18, 2025
bizarre, sprawling, either just french or under-edited
shoutout to the big tiddy girl cop law and order interlude lmfao
shoutout to the big tiddy girl cop law and order interlude lmfao
March 13, 2021
Bear's life is a mess because he is always late and he is always late because he can't tell time. It turns out that telling time is like a pizza. Bear goes from being frantically late to everything to being frantically overscheduled. A quirky picture book with a satisfying ending that is also a good resource to use to teach telling time and using a daily agenda.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews