The Perfect Bear

There once was a bear

who was very fine.

He was so polished

and clean

and proud.

And that made him the

Do Not Touch bear.

As time passed,

he become worn

and gray

and much less fine.

But he was also loved by a little girl.

And that made him

the Perfect Bear.

Publishers Weekly

If the Velveteen Rabbit first had to overcome a horror of being handled, that classic could become this more didactic and sentimental tale. Writing in spare prose, from the point of view of a "very grand" white stuffed bear with a music box inside him, Shields (The Starlight Baby) emphasizes the old cliché that "it's what's inside us that's important." Blythe's (The Whale's Song) astonishingly realistic oil paintings leaven the misty-eyed story. He subtly changes the bear's expressions as his owner, a girl, breaks and then discards his music box and sews up his fur with black stitches. The three-hankie plot, on the other hand, can go over the top: lamenting his now-shabby appearance, the bear's "brown eyes [gleam] as if they had tears in them." In the end, the bear is lost and reunited with "his girl": "He had the oddest feeling in the empty place where his old music box had been. It was... love." Many readers will lap this up. Ages 4-8. (Mar.)

Gillian Shields was born and brought up in England, where she studied English and worked in a drama school for several years. She now looks after her family and teaches English and drama part-time, as well as writing for children. Her first book, Ben and Gran and the Whole, Wide, Wonderful World, was published by Macmillan in London. The Starlight Baby is Gillian's first book for Simon & Schuster.