The Bear and the Piano

Product Information

Watch this animation that was created to promote the book. Could you create your own animated trailer? Huffington Post —‘A heart-warming and beautifully illustrated tale of music, friendship and adventure.’

The Daily Mail —‘A sumptuous treat… [Litchfield] weaves magic with light and space…The ending will have your heart soaring like a soprano’s top C.’The Guardian –‘This book is full of breath-taking scenes, from the stunning forest to the rich New York skyline.’

ARABESQUE No 1 – The French composer Debussy never had much money during the first world war, when coal was so expensive. Debussy paid for it by writing compositions for the coal man. PRELUDE IN C MINOR – Another piece by Bach. Well, his music is so good, after all. Bach loved coffee and once said, “Without my morning coffee, I’m just like a dried-up piece of roast goat.” PRELUDE IN C – This was written by J.S Bach, a German composer, in the 1700s. Bach had 20 Children. Imagine Christmas day at his house!When the bear is learning to play the piano, different illustrations show the same scene at different times of the year. Could you create a similar sequence of images? SABRE DANCE – Khachaturian was a Russian composer in the 20th century. The Sabre Dance is his most famous piece and has been used in dozens of films, most recently Madagascar 3. The bear’s friends hang special objects in the tree above the piano. Could you create something similar to record your own special achievements and memories? Make a list of arguments ‘for’ and ‘against’ the bear leaving the forest and going to the city (or when he is in the city thinking about going home again). The author’s heroes and biggest influences are Albert Uderzo, Jon Klassen and Shaun Tan. Can you find out more about these people? Can you see any of their influences in this book?

When the bear plays, he dreams of strange and wonderful lands. Listen to a piece of piano music and draw / write / describe what it makes you dream of. The bear sees something ‘that made his fur stand on end’. What does this mean? Have you ever felt a similar feeling? Write a letter from the bear to his family at the point when he is recording albums and winning awards for his music. Write a newspaper article about the bear’s first performance. Use the headlines shown in the illustrations as a starting point.One day, a bear cub finds something strange in the forest.” Use this line from the book’s blurb as the starting point for your own story. Find out more about the author’s A Drawing a Day project. Could you try to create a drawing every day?