Books Aren't For Bears is an adorable story about a bear who falls in love with books and has quite the adventure of finding a safe place for reading. The messaging that books are engaging and are for everyone is great. The illustrations are absolutely adorable!

Thank you to Capstone, Capstone Editions and NetGalley for this ARC!

The illustrations in this book are very cute. I like that it encourages a love of reading and that reading is for everyone! There were one or two things I didn't care for. Overall, a cute book.

I received an ARC of this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a story in the spirit of Shannon Hale's This Book is Not for You. Being a librarian and library lover, I was completely tickled that Bear's safe reading space ended up being the library. Cute, bright illustrations bring it all together.

Review of Books Aren’t for Bear
Written by: Mark Barry
Illustrated by: Katy Halford
Published by: Capstone
Publication date: 1st August 2023
Books Aren’t For Bears is a lovely representation of how a bookworm will get a book no matter what! It tells the story of a happy bear who one beautiful day discovers a love for reading and never turns back. There is only one problem! There are no books in the forest! Bear ventures on a bike to the near town where a lovely librarian loans him MORE BOOKS.
This lovely picture book contains amazing illustrations and easy-to-read language. It teaches children about the value of Literature and the importance to read. It also shows the impact of being nice to EVERYONE!
I rate it 5 out of 5 stars and recommend it to children aged 3 to 5.

Oh, this is such a cute and easy read. I love that the bear found a book and fell in love with reading. Despite people discouraging the bear, he never gave up and kept in search of what he wanted books. Finally one person encourages him and helps him giving the bear exactly what he wanted and needed. I recommend this to all of your little animal, lovers and booklovers.

QOTD: Imagine being told that books aren't for you, when you're just discovering the wonder of reading world. How heartbreaking it is, right?

“𝐀 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐠𝐢𝐟𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧.” - 𝐆𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐊𝐞𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐫

but what if there's no more means to get a new book? Just because you're a bear! 𝐀 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐁𝐄𝐀𝐑!

"𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴!" and being shushed away.

Ouh, how heartbreaking this scene left bear with when the only thing he wanted to do is reading more books!

𝐌𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰:

Honestly, the story allows me to accompany a bear in his journey of getting more books (since the woods didn't have any means to provide another book). But, being a bear, it couldn't find any places that could accept the unique reader. But, will bear give up and go back to the woods? Forsaking his wish to read more books? Will he? You shall discover the answer on your own!

I love the vivid visual within the books, it is radiant and visually appealing. The language used are simple and easy to understand. I would prefer recommending it to kids aged 4 to 12 years old. But if you are an adult like me, who wants to destress by reliving your childhood reading genre, then give it a try! I ensure you it's a light and fluffy story.

This book was an easy and fast paced read, my cousins enjoyed this a lot. It showed them that reading isn’t just for the smartest of people but for people of all ages and abilities, even those with dyslexia and so forth. This book also contained excellent images that really carried the story on. I recommend this to lots of people! Well done on this book it’s amazing!

Books Aren't for Bears by Mark Barry is a delightful tale of a bear who learns to read, but is stymied by his attempts to find more books. The illustrations are adorable, with lots of little details to catch an attentive reader's eye, and the text is simple enough to make this a great read-aloud book.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for this advanced readers copy. Books Aren’t for Bears is just perfection! Bear discovers a book in the forest and goes into the city in search for more. He is turned down by many locations, but eventually finds a welcoming place where he can continue to read books and share with his forest friends. This was loved by the kids and adults in our house. Definitely recommend!

Books Aren't for Bears was a very sweet story of a bear who just wants to read. While many humans tell him he cannot read, a kind librarian helps him learn about the library. My son and I loved reading this story, and will look forward to adding it to our own library!

A very sweet book about inclusion and the magical impact of books. The illustrations were lovely and I really enjoyed the overall meaning of the story. As a teacher, it would be a great book to read with a class before a visit to the school library!

Thank you to Netgalley and the author for allowing me to read this book.

One day bear learns to read and wants to find more books! He can’t find any in the forest so he heads to the city. There he finds books, but no one will let him read them until he finds the library. This is a bear-y good book that highlights the wonder of libraries and that books are for everyone!

This was possibly the cutest children's book I have read all year. The illustrations were bright and captivating. The message of the story that books are for everyone was great! I just loved it! I will definitely share/recommend this book with friends of little ones and even our local library.

This was a cute little story celebrating the use of libraries! I loved the illustrations and the endearing Bear character that went through great lengths to get his paws on more books. I think my 6 year old will love the story, too, and I think it sends a good message about being enthusiastic about reading - something we should all want for our children!

This was a very sweet story. My daughter really enjoyed it. She specifically loved the librarian, and sharing the books.

Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for allowing access to an advanced copy for review.

This is a cute story about a bear's quest for more books. The pictures are colorful and engaging.

I am a preschool/kindergarten Montessori teacher. I read this to a small group of students, ages 3-5. They were content and entranced nearly the entire time. The illustrations popped right off the page. Very bright, vibrant, and caught all of our attention. They loved the ending, where Bear finds the library and meets the nice librarian. Books are indeed for everyone, as is this cute story. Our only criticizing point would be the portion in the middle-ish was unnecessary/dragged for a moment (trudging through rain and saying adults don’t notice anything etc). Overall, we loved it and would love a copy for our school :)

This was such a cute little book about the joy of reading! I was rooting for bear to be able to get his hands on some books. I know that my four year old would love this book, so I’ll be putting a physical copy on her wishlist.

Oh my gosh, this is such a sweet little story about a bear who finds a book and loves it so much that he learns to read and then travels to the big city to find more books. I do wish there had been a few more pages where the Bear was able to respond to the teacher and the bookshop owner who said that bookshops and books weren’t for bears, but I did like that he was welcomed at the library at the end! Overall a great little book for young kids!

Review to come to blog/Goodreads late July/close to the release day.

I received this book from Netgalley + the publisher in exchange of an honest review.

I just couldn't resist. A book about a bear who finds a love for reading? YES please! 

In this fabulous book we meet a bear with an adorable bowtie who is just wandering through the forest and then finds something special. A book! He is mesmerised and he has just the friend to help him out with what this fantastic thing is + help him actually be able to read it. And yes, that friend is an owl. Yep. A bit expected, I would so like to see another animal be the wise one for once. Back to the bear, after his long lessons he has a thirst for books now, and I loved that, though I also felt for him as finding books in a forest? Not that easy. I was curious how he would find more books to read!

Well, what happens next was both fun and I just wanted to yeet some snobbish people. Yep. Bear finds a way. But along the way he comes across some snobbish and mean people who think that Books aren't for bears! I just wanted to hug that poor old bear and drag him home to my own collection! But thankfully, very thankfully, he comes across one place that is open to him and allows him all the books he wants! I was so happy that I was just clapping my hands in happiness! I loved the ending and I loved that he spread the bookish love~

The art was just fabulous and I love the style!

All in all, this is a perfect book for people (and animals) who love books and love it when someone discovers a love for it~