Bear
By: Ben Queen and Joe Todd-Stanton
5.0 / 5.0

This graph novel made me cry. It was heartbreaking to see the fear in a seeing eye dog whose vision had left him. Bear is such a lovable character; you just want to cuddle him and give him lots of kisses. Queen did a great job creating a touching and moving storyline while Todd-Stanton did a great job making his characters come to life.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who has a blind person in their life. It will help you understand what they might be going through. It is also great to read to understand how important those seeing eye dogs are to people. Their life is helping this person. Seeing bear question his importance after he lost his sight broke my heart. As an animal lover, I would never think about getting rid of a dog, or any pet for that matter, just because they lost their sight. I can not recommend this book more. This will be my go to book when a customer comes up to me and asks me for a recommendation of a kids book.



Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Bear-Ben-Queen/dp/1684155312/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Bear+by+Ben+queen&qid=1591497682&sr=8-1

Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/bear-ben-queen/1134080881?ean=9781684155316


This review will appear on my blog on August 18, 2020.

The story of a guide dog who helps a blind man, but later on gets himself blind, Bear is an inspirational - friendship story that takes the reader to the journey of Bear, a hybrid of Chocolate Labrador and Golden Retriever, who is selected to take care of Patrick, a blind man. Everything in his life goes smooth - until one unlucky day - he suddenly loses his vision and gets first-hand experience of Patrick's condition. He gets scared of losing his place in Patrick's life, and so he, without knowledge of Patrick, gets out on a transformative journey of getting his eyesight back.

I personally loved Bear and Patrick, the main characters of the book. Patrick, although permanently blind, is happy with his life of repairing and servicing vending machines. And he gets more happy when he gets Bear as his guide dog. He takes care of Bear like his own family and Bear is happy with him. When Bear loses his eyesight, he gets help from the raccoons who live underneath Patrick's home. Unknown to Bear, the raccoons play with him and don't help him at all, leaving him in the forest, alone, to survive anger and hunger of the bears. But he gets help in the forest from Stone, one of the bears, who decides to help Bear after getting to know about his helplessness. He saves him from his brothers, who are hell bent on eating Bear. And to help Bear, Stone tells him to rely on his smelling ability to decide distance.

The author has written this book majorly for children, but this book is for all age groups. So inspiring and full of life and energy, this book shines for Bear's never-say-die attitude and fearlessness and for Patrick's never-ending quest of finding Bear. Other characters, like the raccoons, the bear trio and Meg, play their roles comfortably when asked. Bear's fear of losing Patrick makes him face many hurdles, but with the help of Stone and Andromeda (a bat), he faces them and gets injured many times.

But what was unnecessary in this book, according to me that made the book go off-track, was the raccoons part and a collaboration between Stone's brothers and the raccoons. The author has unnecessarily expanded the book by making these two character arcs. Remove them, and one will get minimum ten pages removed and the book will get back on track.

In the end, I have to say that Bear is one of my best children's book reads. It's combination of friendship, inspiration and transformation and shines brightly. I loved the book and will definitely recommend it to other bibliophiles!

Rating -
4/5 - NetGalley
4/5 - Goodreads
9/10 - my blog

This was slightly confusing but I think kids will enjoy it. Great wat to teach about guide dogs. Also a great book for animal lovers.

This was a very sweet and touching middle grade graphic novel about a seeing eye dog who then faces blindness himself. I could see my 4th and 5th graders loving this. The illustrations and the story are touching, with just the right amount of humor mixed in.

This was an amazing story about a seeing eye dog who ends up losing his sight and ventures off on a journey of self discovery. He learns he can still find his way without seeing & help from some friends he meets along his journey, eventually making his way back to his owner.
I received this ARC in exchange for my honest review from netgalley.

I requested and received an e-ARC from NetGalley and BOOM! Studios in exchange for my honest review.

I loved this book, I even teared up at the end! This is a beautiful story about Patrick and his guide dog Bear. I loved the adventure that Bear takes and the lengths that Patrick and Meg go through to find Bear. The illustrations were great, and everyone should read this amazing book!

I really enjoyed this book. Bear tells the story of a guide dog named Bear who is paired with a blind man named Patrick. Bear panics when he starts to lose his own sight and goes on adventure trying to get it back. Disability stories are always a great new addition. This book belongs in library graphic novel collections.

This was a really cute book about the visually impaired and their Guide Dogs. I really loved the artwork and how the viewpoints switched between dog and owner. This graphic novel is definitely for lower grade readers but it was an enjoyable read either way.

Bear is such an easy character to connect with. You want him to succeed and end up rooting for him throughout the entire story. The bond between Patrick and Bear is special, showcasing how dogs really are man’s best friend!

An absolutely beautiful, heartwarming story about a guide dog. I truly enjoyed reading this graphic novel. The storyline with Bear was really heartwarming. The drawing is amazing, good to look at it and just read. The relationship development between Bear and his owner, Patrick. The whole book was so emotional, Bear needs to live without his mayor sense, and needs to learn again how to do everything. It’s really a must have read and not just for dog lovers. I believe children will like this graphic novel too because of Bear’s lovable character.

Thank you for NetGalley and for the publisher for the free copy.

This was an amazing book that gave great perspective into the life of someone who is blind. The relationships buit in this book are heartwarming and sure to stick with you.

Graphic Novel
I received an electronic ARC from BOOM! Studios through NetGalley.
When the book opens Bear becomes a Guide Dog for Patrick. They form tight bond and develop their routines. Unfortunately, Bear loses his sight and is tricked into heading to the woods by raccoons. A real bear befriends him and helps him get back home after adventures in the city. After surgery, Bear regains his sight and the book ends on a positive note.
Queen creates a tender look at a serious topic. The artwork taps into both realistic characters and the fanciful elements of Bear's adventures. I appreciate the informative text provided about the brain maintaining images and providing insight even though one sense no longer works.
This novel works for readers of all ages from middle grades on up.

My daughter and I reviewed an eARC book via Netgalley. It’s a children’s fiction graphic novel titled BEAR. It’s written by Ben Queen and illustrated by Joe Todd-Stanton. We loved every aspect of this book. BEAR is such a wonderful story. Bear is a lab/golden mixed guide dog for his blind human, Patrick. One day unexpectedly Bear himself loses his own eyesight. Bear suddenly gets confused/worried about not being able to assist Patrick. While Bear is in a state of shock & confusion, raccoons take advantage of the situation by tricking Bear to leave his house. Bear’s adventure begins once he leaves home thinking that he will find magic to get his vision back again. Nonetheless, Bear ends up getting lost in the wild. While he is lost, he meets an actual wild bear along the way who assists him. Eventually, Bear finds his way home back to Patrick. The ending of the book is very sweet.

Bear is truly a loyal dog. We love stories where an animal is the main character. In our opinion, this is one of the best stories that we have recently read! We believe that children and adults will appreciate this book. We loved how the story was told by Bear’s point of view. You can just imagine and appreciate the little things in life that you can experience using your five senses. Those are the things that you don’t normally think about. You get a deep insight into the life of a guide dog through Bear’s eyes and a visualization of his mind. It’s a charming and beautifully illustrated book. We would like to recommend this book to many others to read when it gets published. We’re planning to purchase a copy of this for ourselves to add to our home library collection. We can’t wait for the book to get released on August 18th, 2020.

Thank you NetGalley and Boom! Studios for providing this wonderful graphic novel to us for review!

Its a graphic novel of Bear a guide dog and his owner Patrick who is blind. What happens when one day Bear cannot see anything. Has he gone blind? Has he lost his purpose of life? What actions does he take? We follow his adventures and meet new characters. It is an enjoyable read. Illustrations are good.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the eARC

This beautifully illustrated, incredibly creative graphic novel explores a guide dog's journey after suddenly losing his sight. Many elements of this book are extremely unrealistic, so readers should go into it with the expectation that this is magical realism, not a representation of real life. However, it is very appealing for what it is, and I appreciate the bond between Bear, the guide dog, and Patrick, his blind owner. This book teaches a lot about the blind without ever being didactic or mawkish, and provides an affirming picture of how blind people can be productive and enjoy life regardless of their disability.

This book is beautifully illustrated, with lots of well-realized settings. The parts of the story involving the raccoons and black bears didn't appeal to me, since they raised the story stakes and tension at the expense of keeping the story believable, but I enjoyed the core journey, the emotional elements related to Bear's bond with Patrick, and the incredibly creative visual interpretation of how Bear pictured his surroundings and drew on his other senses during his journey. The author's note shares additional details about the role of mental pictures in the experiences of many blind people, and this is an incredibly inventive and interesting graphic novel because of this element.

Children are likely to enjoy and learn a lot from this, and it is appealing to adults as well, as long as they are prepared for how fantastical and unrealistic it is at times. This graphic novel is unlike anything that I have ever read before, and teaches about visual impairments and guide dogs through a unique and engaging story. I definitely would have enjoyed this when I was a kid, and I'm glad that I got to read it now.

This is a beautifully illustrated and written book. I absolutely loved it! It's a beautiful heartwarming story that holds your attention from the first page until the last. Thank you BOOM! Studios/Archaia via NetGalley for the ARC copy of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.

This book was so adorable and touching, I just flew through it. In it we follow Bear, a service dog who guides his owner, who is blind, but suddenly loses his own sight and starts questioning himself. He goes on a journey out of both panic and a need to find a solution. What follows is an adventure of learning that relying on one sight alone may not be the most ideal solution, making new friends and trying to find his way back home.

We also follow his owner, Patrick, who of course is concerned for Bear's safety and doesn't know what is wrong. It's an interesting story to read from the two perspectives and really tugs at the heartstrings. I especially loved all of Bear's interactions with different animals and how things were shown in his mind's eye. It definitely brought tears to my eyes.

This is a weird, but fun story of a guide dog who goes blind.

So, he does what all blind guide dogs do, right? He runs away from home, because he is told by the local raccoons that he can gain sight in the forest, which he does in a way. Everyone creature he meets along the way show him different ways of seeing, from being able to smell to tell him things, as a bear might, to sending vibrations with their voices, as a bat does.

It is a journey story, but a journey story with a purpose.

And it is kind of cool the way that Bear interprets what he smells and hears to show him the world around him.

It is both kind of realistic, and kind of fanciful.

Thanks to NetGalley for making this book available for an honest review.

Bear by Ben Queen is a beautifully written and illustrated tale of Bear the guide dog. The storytelling is wonderful and the art just adds so much to the story.

This book was wonderful! The story and the art were so precious! It was about a blind man, Patrick, and his guide dog, Bear. And then Bear goes on an unexpected adventure... It was fun getting a glimpse inside the mind of a dog. I loved that Bear made friends with everyone because he couldn't judge them with his eyes.