Jonny Lambert's Bear and Bird: Lend a Helping Hand (The Bear and the Bird)

I believe this board book is one is a series of books about 'Bear and Bird'. This starts by explaining that Bear and Bird are helping nature by planting flowers that bees can visit to pollenate, but asks if they are good at gardening.Through the rest of the book we find them learning more about gardening and helping others to plant flowers and trees resulting in a wooded wonderland which Bear and Bird admire as they sit and read more about gardening.This is a nicely illustrated book and the text is not too wordy and easy to follow -- it would make a nice short story at bedtime.This book has some good environmental messages (about helping nature and nature in turn helping us) as well as about helping others and being willing to learn. Being a board book its pages are fairly easy for young children to turn on their own, although it is a fairly large size book. I am pleased with this book and am happy to recommend.

Colourfully illustrated, with appeal to the older, more appreciative eye, IMO, it hasn’t proved the most popular with my little ones so far. Given the intended age group, it is missing a WOW! element.Turning the very last page, most are expecting something more dramatic from Bird’s question:❓ “Why are there so many bees?”…The current stock images & ‘LOOK INSIDE’ facility above give an idea of the layout to see if it is the style for you & yours.ooOoo~ TITLE: BEAR AND BIRD: LEND A HELPING HAND~ AUTHOR/ILLUSTRATOR: JONNY LAMBERT~ PUBLISHER: DK/2022Chunky and relatively heavy in hand, this is a well produced board book from DK that measures just short of 22 cm square x 2 cm. The thick cover opens to 10 double page spreads (including the inside back cover) with good sized, clear text in black throughout, which includes some speech.The inside front cover page includes some notes, entitled ‘Nature’s helpers’.From the back cover:🌼‘Spring has arrived and Bear could not be more excited ~ he can finally start to garden again!Bear and Bird have been waiting a long time to plant their beautiful flower and they have found the perfect spot. But before they can plant it, Bear and Bird must help their forest friends.Part of an enchanting series, ‘Bear and Bird Lend a Helping Hand’ teaches little ones about gardening and pollination, and shows them the importance of friendship and helping others.’Also currently available:Getting ready for winter ~  Bear and Bird Learn to Share And...COMING SOON ~ ready for starting school:~ 'Bear and Bird Make Friends' (978-0241491805)7 images attached © Jonny Lambert & DK/2022 Bear and Bird Learn to Share

Jonny Lambert is a familiar author for parents and childcare practitioners like myself - with over 30 years experience of writing for children and more than 300 titles. Bear and Bird are familiar characters who have appeared in other books by this author, and make a lovely friendship duo. In this book, Bear and Bird are discovering the wonder of nature with some planting and learning new ideas with the help of their woodland friends. This is a lovely introduction to spring and planting for younger children, with a simple yet engaging story and beautiful illustrations. The book encourages thinking around growth, nature and healthy eating as well as developing ideas about friendship and kindness. The book is presented in board format, with thick card pages that are ideal for younger readers to explore. I love this author and am very happy to add this lovely book to our story basket in my nursery setting.

Jonny Lambert has a series of simple board books that he has designed for smaller children, the USP being his distinct and attractive style. Bear and Bird have popped up in a few tales and 'Lend a Helping Hand' is typical. It is all about trying to plant in the garden and then all the forest creatures working together to make it happen.It is a simple story that is gentle. You learn a little about working together. For a toddler it is an attractive book and they like seeing all the animals and all the colours. The story is a little basic and dull to grab an older child's attention, but there is no denying that it is nice to look at. The story is told in rhyming couplets, but I found that some of them did not scan well and you stutter over them.

We got this for our 3 and 4 year old grandsons. Our 4 year old did really well joining in with the reading and as he is really interested in nature and the environment, he loved the story and the characters. Unfortunately the story wasn't about cars or police cars etc then our 3 year old didn't manage past the first page. The pages were thick and very colourful so should interest children from a very young ages and it is very reasonably priced. Recommended.