To begin with, I have to say that that the book Bear by Ben Queen, illustrated by Joe Todd-Stanton, is magical. It´s a unique story about a seeing-eye dog who loses his sight and is going through a small identity crisis.
We meet Bear and his owner Patrick who is blind, we'll find out how they found each other and get to know their relationship. Then the unthinkable happens, Bear loses his sight and does not know what to do with himself. He is afraid that he won´t be able to help Patrick anymore and that he´ll lose his job and the meaning of life with it.
Bear in mind, pun intended, that this is a story targeted at children´s readers so the actual bears, raccoons, and bats in the story are more magical than realistic. I did not mind because I enjoy children´s stories about animals. The book makes you invested in Bear´s fate. It's emotional, it's compelling, It is full of feels. You can easily feel worried when Bear is tricked by the raccoons and left in the woods alone.
The artwork is beautiful. I love the books illustrated by Joe Todd-Stanton. His illustrations are very pleasant to look at. I consider them cute. I like how it plays with imagination and reality. It shows the reader what Bear sees in his mind and then the reality. I enjoyed that very much.

I also appreciate the way Bear is learning how to use his senses to get around. I thought that he is going to return to his owner with this new set of skills that will allow him to continue his job and be helpful to Patrick. It´s a pity that the message about still being able to live a good life and have a purpose even though you´d lost your sight gets lost in the end.
Overall, it is funny, sometimes sad, touching, and heartwarming. I think the kids will love it. It's enjoyable.

Bear is a graphic novel appropriate for middle grade through adult. The central character in this book is Bear, a guide dog. Bears parents and all his siblings worked as Police K-9 dogs, but bear wasn't selected. Instead, he was sent to learn to be a guide dog and was eventually given to a blind man named Patrick. And then one day, Bear loses his own site and wanders off on an adventure.

This was a semi-realistic/semi-fantastic story. we get to see things from a dog's point of view. Bear is a very lovable character. You can't help but root for him. I quite enjoyed this one and think my 10 year old would too.

The reason I requested Bear was because the drawings – especially the use of colour – really spoke to me. I never used to read graphic novels and comics, because I always thought they lacked depth because there’s just not a lot of text. Lately, however, I really learned to appreciate other aspects that they do offer. The fact that you can really see what’s going on makes it so much easier to relate to the story. And, of course, it doesn’t hurt when the dog in the story is just super adorably cute.

Bear is about a guide dog who sees guiding his human to all the right places as his sole purpose in life. After a while, he also loses his sight and feels very lost and depressed. He then goes on a journey to recover his sight, but instead of reaching that goal he learns the valuable lesson that sight is not everything, and he can help his human even without it.

It’s a story of faith and confidence in the face of adversity, and I thought the message it conveyed was very beautiful. I do think that some of the story really moved too fast for me to properly enjoy it. The transitions between different storylines were sometimes a bit quick, which made the story feel cut off at times. Additionally, some parts were really unbelievable and far-fetched, though this can be explained by the fact that it’s a book written for children. They’re often much more inclined to just believe the given instead of question its probability.

In Bear, we follow the paw steps of a guide dog named Bear. As a guide dog, Bear’s job is to assist his owner Patrick, who is blind. Patrick and Bear happily live their lives in-sync until the unthinkable happens—Bear loses his sight. Scared he’ll no longer be useful to Patrick and lose his job, Bear then follows the racoons to find a mysterious bear to teach Bear magic for his sight. Despite making friends in unlikely places, Bear finds trouble and then gets lost.

Bear’s search is rewarded and reunites with Patrick. After their reunion, Bear undergoes surgery for his eyes. Whilst Bear states he wasn’t “one hundred per cent” after the surgery, he notes that he gained something far greater than what he thought he ever wanted—he becomes Patrick’s friend.

Bear is such an endearing character and I found it easy to emotionally invest in him and his endeavours. I enjoyed the themes explored in this book and liked the unique premise of the story and how it highlights the importance of guide dogs. The book also educates the readers regarding how blindness impacts people.

This is a heart-warming read with themes of identity, friendship, and perseverance woven into Bear’s journey. Through his blindness and his tireless search, Bear discovers true friendship and acceptance. His emotional journey for purpose showcases resilience in the face of adversity.

Also, I LOVE the illustration! The artwork is adorable and colourful. The art panels are engaging, successfully evoking intended emotions upon reading the book.

This is a book I’d highly recommend and I’d definitely buy a copy. I can’t wait to read this to the kids.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC.

Bear is a guide dog who is proud to serve and protect his owner Patrick. But then the unthinkable happens. He loses his sight. Worried that his purpose in life is gone, he follows some pesky raccoons into the woods to seek the magic that might cure his sight. There he meets up with an actual bear who helps him to utilize his other senses and find his way back home.

This was an interesting read about perspective and memory. Many people may know that the blind have heighten senses to make up for loss of sight. What they may not realize, is how one's memory and experiences influence how we perceive our surrounding world. Bear's experiences are limited to what he needs to know to perform his job as a city guide dog. Having never seen a forest, he imagines thousands of Christmas trees with all the lights and trimmings. The actual black bear that he encounters, he imagines as a larger version of himself. And so the story takes on a fantastical quality that was a bit confusing until you realized the author's intent.

The story was enjoyable, but a bit shallow. It could have used another 50-100 pages to really be enhanced and thought-provoking.

A wonderful story about a blind man and his service dog, Bear. I really enjoyed this story, and I feel like it really explored many themes that someone going blind may deal with, for example when Bear struggles with his identity as a guide dog since he can't see anymore! I would really recommend this to anyone!

The illustrations were really beautiful and the story just adorable. Bear is a guide dog and he loves his owner Patrick, but one day Bear loses his sight and his world turns upside down. How can he help Patrick if he can't guide him? What's his purpose? So he embarks on an adventure to get his sight back! Bear starts "seeing" the wold with his other senses and makes some unconventional friends along the way.

This was really emotional and I loved how it was portrayed. I loved it!

A very interesting and odd story that told an interesting story of what happens when a guide dog suddenly loses his sight and has to find his way home.

I honestly am a bit torn with how I feel about <em>Bear </em>by Ben Queen and illustrated by Joe Todd-Stanton. On the one hand, I kind of loved it--the story was so unique and full of feels. But, on the other...I <em>hated</em> so many things. Surface level, this is the story of a seeing-eye guide dog that loses his sight. And this is more or less the story that I was expecting to get. But, due to the age group this book is geared toward, that's not <em>quite</em> the story that we got. It's ironic, really. As someone who typically can't stand to read stories that focus more on real-life, I was so annoyed that this one seemed more magical in nature.

<b>Reality vs. Imagination</b>

So, where I think I struggled the most with this graphic novel is the fact that I spent the majority of my time reading it wondering if this was possibly based on a true story. With that thought in mind, every time something that wasn't super realistic happened, I got a little annoyed with it. I absolutely <em>hated</em> both the bear and raccoon characters because their purposes in the story were <em>nefarious</em> in nature rather than...realistic. Like, it makes sense for a bear to want to eat a dog. It does not make sense for a bear to want <em>revenge</em> against a dog.

In any other story, I don't think this would have bothered me.

It bothered me here.

<b>Spoilers ahead:</b>

Alright, as far as the story goes, this isn't a <em>bad</em> graphic novel at all. It's actually pretty great and I genuinely do think kids are going to love it. We're first introduced to Bear and how he meets his owner, Patrick, who is blind. We get to know them and their relationship and we also learn how important Bear considers his job of guiding Patrick. Then the unthinkable happens; Bear loses his sight.

Suddenly faced with the possibility of no longer being able to do his job and be there for what Patrick needs, Bear no longer knows what to do with himself. His entire purpose in life has disappeared and that is a <em>devastating loss</em>. Up to this point, I was in love with the story. It's emotional, it's compelling, the artwork is beautiful, and you're so insanely invested in the characters you genuinely want to cry for Bear.

<b>Then we meet the raccoons.</b>

There's nothing inherently <em>wrong </em>with the direction Queen takes the story, but here is where I started to dislike it. At the encouragement of a raccoon he hears beneath the floorboards of his home, Bear decides to set out in search of a way to get his sight back. The raccoons for some reason push him to do this so they can sneak into the house and steal food (honestly, I thought this was <em>so</em> dumb). Then they leave Bear lost in the woods.

Then Bear meets a real bear who's brothers are evil and want to eat him, but the one bear feels happy that Bear didn't judge him for who he was initially--something he only does because he can't see, mind you--so the bear helps him escape. And the <em>only </em>thing I liked even a little bit about this bear side-plot was the fact that Stone, the bear, helps Bear in small ways to learn how to use his other senses to get around.

But this is all horrendously tainted by the fact that Stone's brothers are out to get Bear for literally the <em>dumbest</em> reason I could ever imagine (yay miscommunication!). Then Bear and Stone are lost for the rest of the story as they try to find Patrick. They finally arrive back home only for everything to get wrapped up in a pretty bow and <em>THEN</em> Bear goes to the vet and gets his sight back...

<b>Uhm...<em>what</em> was the point of all that?</b>

The story I was expecting, honestly, was one that detailed a guide dog getting lost in the woods, learning how to use his senses to get around. Then he would return to his owner with these new abilities that allow him to continue helping Patrick. Whether it be in the, admittedly, slightly unrealistic way of continuing to be his guide dog or simply by being a great companion. Maybe he makes some friends along the way and they help him learn these skills.

It would be an <em>amazing</em> story, right?

Instead, we get this strange mashup of nonsense that doesn't really lead anywhere. I'm not quite sure what lesson we learned because the ending kind of renders it all moot. I mean, after all Bear went through, for him to get his sight back just like that seems like the wrong message to send. The poignant message about still being able to live a good life and have a purpose even though you'd lost your sight is completely lost <em>because he gets his sight back</em>.

The journey and everything he went through is suddenly completely and <em>utterly pointless</em>. 

<b>WHY?</b>

I mean, I could get past a lot of the nonsensical stuff in this book. I think the kids will enjoy it and overall it is not a bad story. It's enjoyable. I <em>loved</em> Bear. I loved some of the other characters. But the overall message? The <em>purpose</em> behind this story? It falls <em>so </em>flat.

And that breaks my heart, honestly. There was so much potential here. Too much, even, for it to end the way it did.

<em>I was provided a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.</em>

Review to go live on blog on May 16, 2020.

An absolutely precious story about a seeing eye dog and his owner. This was so beautifully done. I love the interwoven text of all the characters, I loved the art, I loved the story. This took me on a journey and my heart is fuller because of it.

The art was absolutely beautiful and I loved all the characters! I’m definitely going to preorder my own copy .

**Thanks Netgalley for approving my request**

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book early.

Bear follows the story of a support dog, named Bear, who lives with his owner, Patrick, who is blind. One day Bear starts to go blind and he gets scared that Patrick won’t want him anymore. So Bear runs away and on his journey he meets different friends who help him to see that Patrick doesn’t love him for the things he does but for just being him. Bear and Patrick have this wonderful friendship and I just loved seeing how much they love each other.

The art was absolutely beautiful and I loved all the characters! I’m definitely going to preorder my own copy :)

This was an interesting story of a man, Patrick, who is blind and the guide dog he gets. The dog, Bear, at first wants to be a police dog like his parents but ends up embracing being a guide dog. Something unforeseen happens to Bear and he loses confidence in his job and place in Patrick's life. The art is really nice, with good colors. The story was fine but I didn't love it. It is short so although we get the basic background of the characters, I didn't get enough to be fully invested. This book is appropriate for kids and adults alike. I think younger kids won't really be into it so I'd hand this to 10 and older.

This was a cute book about a service dog named Bear and his human, Patrick. Patrick is blind, and when Bear also loses his sight, he is worried that he won’t be able to help Patrick anymore. Some tricky raccoons lead him away from home and with the help of a bear, a bat, and some police dogs, he ends up on a journey to learn how to “see” without his eyes while trying to get back to Patrick.

I think this book will help children to begin to understand how vision-impaired people experience the world, as well as the role of a service dog. I even learned some new information! I enjoyed the beautiful artwork, as well.

Thank you to Archaia, Ben Queen, and NetGalley for allowing me to read a free eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Lovely dual disability story with a service dog who fears he lost his purpose when he too goes blind and tries to get back to his person. I think this will engage young readers and be a good read aloud about differences and celebrating adversity.

This is one of those books that just sticks with you long past the book is over. It’s about a man who is blind and his guide dog, Bear. One day Bear noticed he can’t see and can therefore not effectively help Patrick anymore. So, he leaves. We go along the journey of trying to reunite them through Bear and Patrick’s point of view. It’s a beautiful story of friendship, redemption and love.

As soon as I saw this, I requested it because oh my goodness dogs and cute and I love this sort of thing. Bear did not disappoint; it was an unbelievably cute story with lovely drawings (beautiful art style!) and an extremely cute narrative. I was very quickly attached to Bear and it was very upsetting when his sight went. The journey he went on with all the other animals was thrilling and fundamentally this was just a lovely and adorable story.