Today I am very excited to welcome Jane Hissey and Old Bear to my blog. They have been on a week long blog tour to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Old Bear's first book being published.
To
mark the 30th anniversary of the publication of the first Old Bear book in
1986, author and illustrator Jane Hissey has created a brand new story: Happy
Birthday Old Bear, which will be published in September 2016.
The
toys are getting everything ready for Old Bear’s birthday party, helped by
their new friend, Elsie the elephant, who plans on giving Old Bear a painted
umbrella as a present. They tie ribbons on the gifts, play party music and make
a birthday cake, but when they head into the garden Elsie and her umbrella are
blown away by a gust of wind and have to be rescued!
Featuring
the soft-toy characters belonging to Jane and her family, this latest Old Bear
adventure, illustrated with enchanting original artwork, promises to charm and
delight children; both existing fans and those discovering Jane’s work for the
first time.
Praise
for Old Bear:
‘I'm
not sure you ever grow out of Old Bear stories.’ The Bookbag
‘Sometimes
I worry that books that we've loved for years might one day fall out of
favour…but Jane's books seem to comfortably buck that trend.’ Read it Daddy
‘Every
child deserves to be read to about Old Bear, his many friends, and adventures.’
Our Book Reviews Online
‘Jane
Hissey’s characters make so many simple childhood experiences interesting and
exciting and we love the way that the toys use their imaginations.’ Story
Snug
Happy
Birthday Old Bear is published in September 2016 priced £11.99
I am very privileged that Jane Hissey has written a special blog post about how Old Bear has changed over the 30 years of publication.
Old Bear started out life as just a bear.
My grandmother gave him to me when I was born and he was my constant childhood
companion. I had a largely outdoors childhood so he often needed repairs and I
remember my mother stitching him a new nose and eyes when they were presumably
lost in the fields! Her stitching remains to this day and helps to give him his
unique look.
When I became an illustrator, and was asked
to write and illustrate a children’s picture book, I decided this old bear (though 30 years younger than he is now)
should be my lead character.
It is interesting; when you first draw a
toy that is to feature in a book, before its character has developed through the
story telling, it’s just an illustration of a toy; there is no ‘life’ This must
have been the case with Winnie the Pooh and Paddington Bear before they
developed their own personalities.
This is the very first drawing of my
original group of chosen characters. It was done as a sample drawing before I
wrote ‘Old Bear’ and was included on the title page of the finished book. The
toys are all just about recognizable but their characters are completely
undefined. They stand or sit awkwardly and it is obvious I am still
experimenting with capturing their texture and choosing expressions and posture
As I drew Old Bear more and more (throughout
that first book and then the subsequent twenty or more books) I found shorthand
ways of showing his texture, of indicating the movements he was capable of. I got to know his shape and form and
determined the expression he should have (kind, cheerful and wise.) In other
word he became ‘Old Bear’ not just an old bear. 
As Old Bear himself travelled the world to
visit schools, bookshops and libraries in such far flung places as Australia
and the USA, he left a little bit of his fur wherever he went and is now pretty
threadbare. It hasn’t helped that he has also had an attack of the clothes
moths and had to spend a short time in the freezer! The slight changes in
appearance are noticeable in the more recent books where he has lost much of the
velvet from his paws and a bit more of the fur from his nose. But I
draw him from life and that’s how he is. I say it’s all
part of growing old gracefully!
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