• Age: 0 to 3
• Grade: p
• Reading age: 0 to 3

A huge bear is wandering through the forest - but wait a minute! Who's that he's hugging? A beaver? And a moose? And a bird? And a tree?

Welcome to the world of Big Bear Hug, a contemporary fable about a bear who has an appetite for hugging everything in sight - even creatures that bears have been known to eat. One day, the benevolent bear meets up with a human. This human proceeds to do something the bear cannot understand: he raises his axe and begins to cut down a tree. Suddenly the bear doesn't feel like hugging anymore and must make a difficult decision on how to stop this destruction in his forest.

The environmental message of Big Bear Hug is both funny and powerful, while simple enough to engage very young children and show them the awesome power of a hug.

Nicholas Oldland est le directeur artistique et l'un des propriétaires d'une entreprise de vêtements nommée Hatley. Ses motifs reconnus sont imprimés sur des pyjamas, des imperméables, des bottes de pluie et des chandails, tous signés Hatley. Aux Éditions Scholastic, il a écrit et illustré plusieurs albums dont L'ours qui aimait les arbres, L'orignal qui avait la frousse et Les amis qui ne pensaient qu'à gagner. Nicholas habite à Toronto.

Nicholas Oldland earned a degree in fine arts at Mount Allison University in New Brunswick, Canada, and enjoyed success as a commercial artist and filmmaker before taking up the role of creative director at Hatley, a popular apparel company. Big Bear Hugis his first picture book.

Nicholas Oldland's profile page

• Short-listed, Blue Spruce Award, Ontario Library Association
• Winner, Best Books for Kids & Teens, Starred Selection, Canadian Children's Book Centre

... an attractive and appealing book.

Quill & Quire

... the book's quick humor makes it easy to embrace.

School Library Journal

Oldland's rustic-styled digital artwork looks like a hip flannel pajama print ... and his pictures play sly comic foil to the earnest text.

Publishers Weekly

This debut is a treat for the tree hugger in all of us.

Kirkus Reviews

Big Bear Hug