Customer Reviews

2 reviews

• Allan Simmons; former High Sheriff of Dorset and experienced grandfather!

  I well remember as a child how we would sit down to tea after school, and when we had eaten my mother would read to us – stories like ’Winnie the Pooh’, Arthur Ransome’s ‘Swallows and Amazons’, the ‘Chronicles of Narnia’ to name but a few. To pick up Frank Bristow’s ‘Bears of Bopplestone’ reminded me of those far off days. When my mother had finished reading we would invariably say ‘just one more chapter please’ because we were so absorbed in the story. I think that you will respond like that as you read this book.
  The Little Bears, Bertie and Archie, are joined by another live bear called Herbie. Like Bertie, he lives with his parents in the mountain. Archie lives with the Count in the Castle in the valley, but soon is ready to go to school; it has to be a school for live bears, so soon plans are made for him to go to the school in the village in the mountains, where Miss Wiseman was the teacher. One problem was that it was a long way from the castle, and the path was very steep, especially the bit where the stream came down in a ravine. Connie the goat could drive them in a cart to the foot of the waterfall, but what then?
  Bertie wanted to train as a scientist. He came up with a solution to their problem which was to build a water lift; after all if water came down surely the power could be harnessed to lift things up. So his ‘binvention’ was designed rather like the London Eye. You can just imagine the fun they had making it with buckets and rope and the help of the Count and his butler – Dirk.
  Herbie Bear had a paper round in the village so all the bears got the news early. He was old enough to join the others at school. His first homework was on chickens, so he brought one to show the class. Needless to say it duly escaped, causing mayhem in the classroom.
  Bertie’s project was of course the water lift, but the class had to keep it secret, because they were secret bears! and were sworn in to secrecy in the school hall.
  The next excitement was when Jeremy was born – a brother for Herbie; an interesting introduction to the facts of life, and an opportunity for Archie to start a new dance. The three little bears were amazed that the new arrival couldn’t talk or even play football, but seemed to know that his Mummy Bear had plenty of milk for him.
  A history lesson gave the opportunity for Bertie and Archie to tell the class how the records had been found and lots of little toys just like the Little Bears had been made and called ‘Teddy Bears’ after the king of the country.
  Two new characters are then introduced into the story – two Little girl Bears called Bolly and Bozzy. They are also concerned, as Bertie and Archie had been, for all the little bears in the world that they couldn’t communicate with. So Bertie and Archie decide that it is time to teach Herbie and them about telepathy! (see book 1).
  A banquet has been arranged to give Herbie the freedom of the Castle. One of the dishes to be served up was salmon, so the Count sent the Little Bears off down the river to catch one. They landed an enormous fish; so big in fact that it towed them along the bank, and the inevitable wetting ensued. With the help of the Count they got it back to the castle for the banquet together with other supplies such as fruit and eggs. The Count had arranged special outfits for them to wear and they were duly awarded their ‘freedom of the castle medals’.
  The Count then bundled them into his ample pockets to take them up to his laboratory where Little Herbie would be shown a ‘Secret of the Castle’; how they could convert thought waves into sound waves and so communicate with other creatures.
  Then, on the way to school they find a baby goat which had got stuck on a ledge on the side of the mountain. The Count sent the Little Bears on ahead and scrambled up the track to rescue the little goat; unfortunately he slipped and fell down the mountainside until he was caught up on a large rock. Bertie makes a plan to get the doctor, and the Count safely home to the castle.
  The book finishes with the discovery of an old box in a cave in the castle. Only Herbie was small enough it get into the cave to fix a rope to the box so that it could be dragged out into the open; so that’s what they did and discovered how to open it. The papers inside showed a riddle which enabled them to open it up; but that’s for the next book!
  
  
  

• Rachel Setchfield Botanist, Wordsmith & Humorist

  Having read The Bears of Bopplestone Book 1, I was delighted to learn there were more stories on route in the form of Book 2!
  This second book involves yet more amusing stories from the wonderful world that is Bopplestone!
  The book is not only a story, but it incorporates the joys and pains of everyday life, through a group of bear friends. It deals with the trials and tribulations in a very knowing, but humorous way, as the bears grow and learn about how to go about life-things....or not!
  They do have a big tendency to land up in some trouble, (I think we all have seen a bit of this in our own life!) as they unwittingly go about their different projects.
  As you read on through each chapter of the book, you are drawn in to the stories. There are some really good inventions along the way, that, with a little imagination and precision engineering could actually work!
  The language of the bears, which at the start is bearly! understandable, becomes much more believable.
  This is a great book for children as it will spark their bittle imaginations, but also is a good read to jog the memory of adults who may have found themselves in a few scrapes in their own childhood.!
  Enjoy!
  

Write a Review