We had been wanting to read the Hare Shaped Hole for some time now.
Bear Shaped Hole is a wonderfully illustrated picture book about life; the natural cycles, grief, love and memories.
Little Bear learns to live with grief and appreciate the present moment.
Poignant, and wise, this book has the perfect mood to deal with its themes.

"I'm not finished loving you" - SOBBING! This is such a sweet and heartfelt story. It's very important message to provide to children. It helps with grief and understanding of the inevitability of death. And the art was so bright and colorful. I loved it.

Overall, there needs to be more books that touch on loss for young children. Losing someone close to a child can be very scary and often confusing. This book in particular does a great job highlighting the different emotions a child can go through, especially the rage that one may feel. This book may be difficult for the very young ones, but for a child around the age of 5+, this may be very helpful and assist in their understanding of emotions. The artwork does a great way of explaining how loss can make us feel at times and how it can leave a hole in our hearts.

4.5 stars

Bear-Shaped Hole is a delightful and heartwarming children’s book that gently explores themes of loss, love, and resilience. The story is beautifully written and strikes the perfect balance between being engaging for kids and meaningful for adults reading along.

The illustrations are vibrant and charming, bringing the bear’s journey to life in a way that will captivate young readers. The message of finding strength and comfort even when faced with difficult emotions is handled with care, making it a thoughtful and touching read.

This is a wonderful book for children, full of warmth, heart, and an important lesson about navigating life’s challenges. A perfect addition to any kid’s bookshelf.

Covering learning about death and coping with grief, including angry feelings. This book goes through all the stages of learning about the process of aging, accepting death, and building memories with loved ones before their death, as well as all the feelings involved in learning about losing a loved one.

The Bear-Shaped Hole is a moving tale of a young bear, Gerda, learning that their beloved friend, Orlo, is going to die. The story captures the joy of friendship and contrasts that with the intense emotions on feeling out of sorts when learning such horrible news. Orlo has an opportunity to prepare Gerda for the grief they’ll experience when Orlo passes. Beautiful cadence and illustrations

This touching story follows Gerda as she walks through the complex emotions of grieve. This book is perfect for families that are experiencing a loss or lost someone as a way to open the dialogue for death and grieve. I enjoyed it and feel this will be an incredible addition to not just home but counselors and other support figures.
Thank you to Quarto Publishing Group - Frances Lincoln Children's Books and NetGalley for an eARC of this book for an honest review.

The Bear-Shaped Hole is about a young bear who experiences the death of a loved one for the first time. She goes through a myriad of emotions and reactions and learns to remember the happy memories she had with her friend. This would be a great SEL resource.

Thanks to Quarto Publishing Group - Frances Lincoln Children's Books and NetGalley for an eARC of this book for an honest review.

This is a beautiful book. Beautiful illustrations and beautiful content. It explores the loss of a friend and validates the emotions that come with grief, in a child friendly and informative way. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommended this wonderful story.

I have seldom if ever read a more moving and sensitive children’s book about love, loss and death. Gerda’s best friend when she was little was a kindly bear named Orlo. He always had time for her and they shared a love and friendship that was deep and abiding. But one day Gerda notices that Orlo seems to have slowed down. When she asks, Orlo confesses that he is ill and will die. There is no cure and Gerda’s reaction to the news is much like most of us who learned we are going to lose a loved one.

Her anguish and grief is something anyone of any age can understand. Orlo tells Gerda it is not wrong to have such feelings. It natural. He then teaches her that those we truly love live in our memories and it is a choice we make when we love to be open to the possibility of loss. The artwork is very sweet but the message is so healthy and accessible. This is a book that would be a great asset for those children who are struggling with loss or the potential loss. It is really well done. Five purrs and two paws up.

Grief and loss is are two of the most difficult things for children to understand, but The Bear-Shaped Hole is an excellent tool for adults to use to help explain the loss of a loved one, loss of an opportunity, or any other loss.

Orlo is an older bear who loves Gerda with all of his heart, however, Orlo gets sick and has to leave Gerda. Orlo's sickness is slow, so they prepare themselves for their separation.

As an adult, this book hits many emotions. The book never shies away away from loss, and instead, approaches it with reality that will build a healthy foundation for grief for later in life.

The writing is easy to follow, with the rhythm and the flow moving elegantly and quickly. Younger readers would have an easy time following along and reading themselves.

The illustrations are really beautiful, especially how Orlo is portrayed after he dies. The Bear Shaped Hole is definitely there, but doesn't consume Gerda in her future.

This book is a beautifully written exploration of grief, capturing the raw emotions of loss in a lyrical and poetic text that effortlessly rolls off the tongue. (Even the unconventional rhymes still work beautifully-as a toddler mom I’ve read a lot of bad rhymes)

It thoughtfully delves into how grief and pain can overwhelm a child (or adult), altering their behavior in ways that feel both unfamiliar and yet are entirely natural. This story offers parents and children the words to understand and navigate loss, creating a powerful bridge for processing these difficult emotions.

Even as an adult reader, this book stirred up deep feelings and served as a reminder to cherish the moments we have with loved ones and to make all the lasting memories while we can.

Thank you Quarto Publishing Group – Frances Lincoln Children's Books for a copy of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.

This is a beautiful book that helps prepare young children for losing someone special to them and going through grief.

The Bear Shaped Hole is a beautiful follow up to the Hare Shaped Hole. It focuses on preparing for the loss of a loved one and provides powerful validation and normalisation for the emotional experience of mourning someone before they are gone.

The prose is lyrical and provides a comforting rhythm, whilst also using clear and plain language in a way that is easily accessible for younger kids. The messages are simple and pragmatic, and similar to The Hare Shaped Hole focus on memories and creating a vision of life after loss which is hopeful and realistic.

I think this is just as powerful read for adults and children and a great way to start an emotionally supportive conversation. The ending was just beautiful and had me wiping away tears.

Thank you Quarto Publishing Group for a copy of this book. Opinions expressed are my own.

Beary Beneficial

This story of the bears really simplifies making memories in a terminal situation and the journey of grief. I think this category get sprung upon any adult to help a child is new territory and this book is an excellent guide.

The illustration offered texture created with the color palette used. The last few pages of the book had an aurora of colors used and took the prize to end on a high note.

I think this book would be great for families dealing with explaining terminal illnesses/impending deaths. I think this would also be a great book for hospitals, hospice and school phycologists to have access to provide children and families experiencing this life event.

I received a free copy of this book from John Dougherty and Quarto Publishing Group – Frances Lincoln Children's Books. I am voluntarily leaving a review. All opinions are my own.

this is a solid book about one way a child might maintain a connection with a deceased loved one, The Bear-Shaped Hole introduces the idea of gathering cherished memories and keeping them in stuffed bear hole. while this book is not quite as expansive as others on the topic, it is a very practical, hands-on contribution to the selection of books about grief for children. I will definitely use this book in the future. it made me cry so hard.

thank you for our copy Quarto Publishing. forever keeping it.

Good, quick and short read for the little ones about loss and grief. My little niece is not at the age that she understands the word or concept of death/dying, so the parts where it says it explicitly may not be the same as if you were reading to a slightly older child, but it was still age appropriate. In my case, lots more questions and discussion around sadness and grief. Some of the rhymes were a little awkward so I knocked one star as a reader, but the kiddos did not mind.

Well I am bawling my eyes out. I guess I should have read the description. I just saw the cute bear and thought it was a perfect book. Sadly, I will need this one day so I am glad I have read it but for now I want to curl up and cry. 😭 I think it’s well written for a child with how it tells it’s okay to feel the emotions and how to handle being sad when loved ones are gone. I like the focus on creating and remembering memories.

As an adult I never thought a child’s fiction book would bring me to the brink of tears and yet teach me lessons I myself have yet to learn and come to terms with, Absolutely astonishing!

Such an important read for little ones and reminder for adults. I loved being the way both the author and illustrator captured the essence of loving and losing someone, and how they live on through our memories and still hold value and a place in our everyday lives. The story was very reminiscent of one of my favourite Marvel quotes, "What is grief, if not love persevering?" and I think it sums up this book's message perfectly. I can't wait for this to be on the market as I will definitely be picking up a copy for my future classroom as I think it's important for everyone to read at least once. Thank you to @netgalley @ficbooks, author and illustrator for allowing me to review this early 🩵