I loved this book, it made me tear up a bit. Bear is about a dog who is trained to be a seeing eye companion and to help his human fly. It has a decent length to it, but doesn't feel like it's dragging. The rest of the characters are quite adorable.... And aren't you a bit curious to find out what happens Bear's one job is jeopardized?

Bear is a guide dog who helps blind vending machine repairman Patrick get around town. But one day, Bear loses his sight. He goes on an adventure to regain his sight and learns how to imagine surroundings from a raccoon, smell them from a bear, and how to hear his surroundings from a bat. Throughout his journey, Bear realizes that his disability will not prevent him from doing his job and that his other senses can replace his eyesight.

The illustrations are charming, with both the "real world" and "Bear's world" versions of the scene. For example, when the dog Bear meets some actual bears, he imagines them as big versions of himself -- giant brown dogs. You see black rooms with the furniture outlined when Bear loses his sight because he is remembering the room instead of seeing it. This is mentioned in the afterword as a method that many blind individuals use to "see" their surroundings.

This is not only an adorable animal story with good lessons, but also a great learning opportunity for children to learn about the blind and guide dogs. Highly recommended for parents to read and discuss with their children to give them a better worldview. The only unfortunate thing about this lovely story is that the visual medium doesn't translate well for those who cannot see the illustrations themselves. I hope there is an audiobook version in the future!

This book is about a guide dog named Bear who starts to gradually lose his sight. Throughout the story, Bear struggles with the idea of identity and self-worth. Without his sight, can he still be useful? I'm absolutely in love with Bear, Patrick, and the stunning artwork in this story. From start to finish it was an absolute delight to read; I would highly recommend teachers pick up a copy for their in-class library.

This was such a gem!

In between picture book and graphic novel which I honestly think is such a gem of a style of storytelling.

Did I request this book because my dogs name is Berbere (aka Ber??) and looks like the pup on the cover? Or that I love all things accessibility?? Maybe! But so what.

It was great.

The pace keeps what is otherwise a simple story moving, and the animal characters add a fun silly balance to the emotional dog-man connection side.

I will definitely bring this into curricula and rec it to other educators. Of all social justice issues I’ve sometimes found disability is one of the harder ones to dig into because it’s soooo broad (visible, invisible) it can be hard to grasp for literal kids and it’s complicated and everyone is different. And I say that as a SPED teacher! I love this story because there’s no pity or other yucky stuff that sometimes come with disability narratives.. the closest one it comes to is the overcomer narrative but even then I don’t think it goes there and it leans more into the beauty of our interdependence.

All that’s to say- YES I’m here for this cute book. And my big goof boi Ber also approves! (Sigh, now if he could ever calm down his puppy vibes enough to be a support dog... and I could bring him to my classroom one day... ah, in my dreams!)

Thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Bear is a guide dog for the visually impaired. He starts to doubt his purpose in life when he loses his sight himself. He goes through a journey of discovery and finds that he can still be a guide dog.

This was the sweetest, most uplifting graphic novel I have read in a long time. It is definitely for children, but I learned quite a bit from it.
Bear is a guide dog for Patrick and he loves his job. Patrick fixes vending machines and is also blind. He uses Bear to help him get around. When Bear loses his sight and gets lost, he must find his way back to Patrick.
I loved Bear and Patrick's commitment to each other. I loved the journey that Bear has in order to get to Patrick and all of the fun characters he meets in search for home. The art work is fantastic. It has all the qualities of a children's book combined with graphic novel aspects.

Provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

An absolutely lovely graphic novel for kids about a guide dog named Bear and his adventurous journey back to his owner, Patrick.

The story is wonderful and truly unique to really any story I've read, kid or adult stories alike. Patrick is blind and has built a great bond with his guide dog, Bear. Well, one day, Bear begins to lose his vision and worries that, along with his sight, he has also lost his purpose in life. Due to his lack of vision, and with the help of some pesky raccoons, Bear embarks on a transformative journey through the woods, in the caves of bears, throughout the big city, and more, all to get back to his owner and friend.

The artwork was done SO well! Everything is consistent and cute and pretty to look at. Both children and adults would find the artwork to be stunning. But the illustrator takes it to another level when he begins to draw and color the unseen world that Bear begins to imagine through the use of smell and "bark-olocation." I LOVE the creativity here! For example, there are many locations that Bear imagines around him because he's been there before. These areas are often drawn like chalk art, but each piece is done with precision and detail that is beautiful in its own right. One more example of creative illustrations is that Bear (the dog) meets Stone (the bear). But when Stone introduces himself as a bear, Bear (the dog) imagines Stone as a bigger version of himself!

Bear is a wonderful graphic novel for anybody, but children ages 8-12 might particularly enjoy this charming graphic novel.

I loved this children's graphic novel. Since I read an electronic version, I am unsure of whether it's a picture book or a graphic novel, but based on the dimensions and the hardcover price, I'm going to guess picture book. I loved this story about a guide dog (Bear) who, when he loses his own sight, questions how he can do his job and be useful to his owner again. Some raccoons take him to the woods, where they say he can find a way to get his sight back. When the raccoons abandon him, Bear meets an actual bear! The bear, named Stone, decides to help Bear find his way back home, because Bear is the first creature to not be scared of him. During Bear and Stone's travels, Bear learns how to harness his other senses to navigate the world around him.

I loved the art style and illustrations, and the agency of the animals--both good and villainous--reminded me of The Secret Life of Pets. I do question, however, some of the "facts" given about blindness. I'm not blind, I don't know anyone who is, and I would never speak on the behalf of people who are. But the fact that (sorry, spoiler) Bear gets his sight back in the end, worries me that it could be ableist, in the way that many stories about disabled characters end with being suddenly and miraculously "cured."

Bear is a guide dog for Patrick, a man who is blind. They are best friends, and Bear loves helping Patrick. But when Bear’s sight starts to go, he’s worried he’s going to let down Patrick and his panic leads him on a wild journey without sight.

Bear’s story explores interesting ways that animals with poorer eyesight “see” the world as well as providing a lesson that reaching out for help instead of trying to hide a problem is usually a much better solution. Bear could have avoided so much trouble for himself and heartache for Patrick if he’d just been honest and hadn’t tried to run away from the problem. I think I was too busy rolling my eyes at Bear’s foolishness to enjoy this story. The illustrations are very charming, and I can see many dog lovers becoming firmly invested in Bear’s story and turning pages furiously to see him get to a happy ending. I really like the way the book highlights the important jobs that guide dogs do, and the independence Patrick has despite his disability is inspiring. Recommended to lower grade graphic novel fans, those looking for books featuring blind characters, and dog lovers.

I received an ARC of this title from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

We see stories about animals separated from their families. Stories about relationships between guide dogs and their human companion. Not often do we find an intersection between the two concepts. Even more rare is the idea that the guide dog finds himself suddenly impaired. This complication allows Queen to explore a number of ideas. Bear is question his role in Patrick's life. If he cannot see, cannot guide, what is his purpose? Through his adventure he learns new ways of navigating and understanding the world, just as Patrick had to do. We also have an exploration of perception. When he cannot see, he interprets life based on what he hears, smells, remembers, and imagines. A solid story with some bits of animal biology and sociology interspersed.

This was so cute! The art style was amazing, and I liked how you could tell what Bear was imagining - especially the giant dogs. I think my kids will love this one.

Such a cute, amazing story about a guide dog and his person and what happens when the dog also looses his eyesight and goes on an adventure to learn more about his surroundings.

5/5 stars

Beautiful illustrations with a heartwarming story with lovable characters you just want to cuddle. Loved to see representation in a children's book.

This is a sweet graphic novel about a man and his dog. But is so much more. This story follows Bear a guide dog and Patrick his person. I feel that this book will be enjoyed by many people. I will purchase this book for my classroom library.

I received this ebook in exchange for an honest review.

This is a graphic novel that starts by hearing about who Bear and Patrick are from each of their own perspectives. Patrick is blind and Bear is his guard dog. Then, Bear has an accident and he becomes blind. This is a beautiful story about love and friendship!

Bear is a delightful addition to the picture book-eqsue end of the graphic novel canon. I love how much it normalizes being a person with a disability; kids need to see that representation! The art is gorgeous and I can not wait to put this on my library's shelves!

Really lovely story about what happens when a guide dog loses his sight. This story has great themes of perseverance, loyalty, and self-worth in a really approachable way that kids will enjoy. The illustrations are beautiful, and are really imaginative when showing what Bear, the guide dog, visualizes around him when he can't see. The stakes are real without being too scary, and I enjoyed the way different animals and people helped/hindered along the way. This book also gave a great perspective on what it might be like to be visually-impaired without being condescending or pandering. I initially thought I was requesting a picture book, but this is a longer graphic novel- a format that was well-suited to the story. I definitely recommend this!

I couldn't really get into this story enough to say that I enjoyed it. It didn't pack an emotional punch for me.

There were some inaccuracies about blind people from what I have learned after watching a lot of videos of a blind YouTuber, Molly Burke (this is me making some generalizations based on what I learned from her of course, so these things could apply to some blind people for sure). She says that blind people do not touch people's faces to "see" what they look like. And guide dogs definitely don't need to have the same routine every day and they don't only follow one route. They are there to warn their person about obstacles and unsafe situations. They aren't just taking their person to certain places (dogs don't think like this). Molly's guide dog, Gallop, travels extensively with Molly and navigates many different places. So I guess after that mini rant, these things just created a sour feeling toward this book for me.

The visuals were cute and creative. It had a good message overall about believing in yourself and being there for the people that need you.

This is one of the cutest books I have read in my entire life! I was constantly showing scenes to everyone around me because it was so funny and adorable. It is about a dog named Bear who is a guide dog for Patrick. Bear all of the sudden develops blindness and leaves Patrick, going on an adventure to try to find out how he can learn to see again. My favorite parts in this book are the illustrations of how Bear is visualizing everything around him based on the descriptions other animals are giving him; he is just so pure and lovable! It was a great story, full of adventure and leaves you not wanting to put it down. It teaches about blind people and how capable they are, but also teaches the important relationship between humans and their companions and how strong a connection can be.

What happens when a seeing-eye dog loses his sight?

For Bear, this leads to an amazing adventure. Aided, and sometimes hindered (Never trust a raccoon!) by some animal guides, he explores the world around him in a new way. The reader gets to join in the fun as Bear tries to reunite with his human. I don't think it's a spoiler to report that there's a great big AWWWW of an ending.

This is a beautifully illustrated graphic novel aimed at middle-grade readers, but sure to please animal lovers of all ages.

I'll definitely buy a copy of this for the library where I work - kids are gonna love it.