One Night in Beartown

By Nick Jones. Illustrated by Si Clark

What it’s about?

From the award-winning duo that brought you Sarah’s Shadow comes another magical adventure…

When bear-mad schoolgirl Sandy Lane has her beloved teddy bear Berisford confiscated at school, she dreads the thought of going a whole night without his cuddles.

Little does she know that a bear-rilliant night awaits her, involving Berisford, a bear statue and many other wonderful friends!

What we think:

The Little Monster loved this story!

It’s been a favourite over the last couple weeks and we have read it countless times.

Sandy loves bears. In fact her town of Congleton loves bears, so much so that there are 75 statues of bears around her town which is nicknamed Beartown.

Tommy Pickles is the mean kid in class and thinks that bears are for babies and teases Sandy when she brings her beloved Berisford bear to school.

When the bear is confiscated and Sandy has to spend the night without him she is heartbroken. My Little Monster got very emotional at this point as he thought the teacher was a meanie for not letting her take her bear home and poor Berisford would very lonely.

But something magical happens that night. The bear states come alive and take Sandy and Berisford in a wonderful adventure which of course includes a Teddy Bear Picnic.

They also pay a little visit to Tommy Pickles and teach him just how special bears can be.

This is such a fun story with lots of things to talk about. The bully gets his comeuppance which made the Little Monster happy. And he loved the idea that bears came alive and had adventures – he’s now pretty convinced that his toys come alive too! In fact we had to take Edgar the Dragon to the park after school today!

The illustrations are fabulous – the characters are full of expression and the bears’ personalities shine through. There’s lots of detail in the images to talk about and lots of humour too.

The book is inspired by the charity bear trail held in Congleton 10 years and they are hoping to bring bears back for 2021. We would definitely be up for a visit to Bearmania in the summer.

This is a wonderful story about the power of the imagination and our enduring love of bears.

You can buy One Night in Beartown using the links below:

https://full-media.co.uk/product/one-night-in-beartown/

https://nickjonesauthor.co.uk/product/one-night-in-beartown-nick-jones-and-si-clark/

https://www.amazon.co.uk/One-Night-Beartown-Nick-Jones-ebook/dp/B08NFH7H9X

About the author:

I’m Nick Jones, an award-winning author originally from Bristol but now living in Congleton, Cheshire. I write books for kids and I’ve also written several joke books for adults. My first book, Gagged and Bound – A Book of Puns, One-liners and Dad Jokes, was a best-seller under Puns and Wordplay on Amazon UK, and two sequels soon followed.

In December 2017, I tried something different: a children’s picture book about a girl who loses her shadow. Illustrated by the super-talented Si Clark, Sarah’s Shadow has proved popular with kids and parents alike. In 2018 it won Best Children’s Picture Book in the 2018 Book Awards on international book review site Readers’ Favorite. My claim to fame is that the same award was previously won by none other than Jim Carrey, the Hollywood actor-cum-children’s author! Sarah’s Shadow also won Runner-Up in the Book Excellence Awards and received a Purple Dragonfly Book Award as one of the best picture ebooks for children aged 6+.
In 2020 I ran a Kickstarter campaign during lockdown to fund my next book, One Night in Beartown. It was inspired by the Bearmania event that took place in 2011. Thanks to amazing support from businesses and individuals in Congleton and beyond, I raised £4,000 to illustrate and print the book. It was published on 1 December and you can buy it on my online shop, on my publisher’s website or as an ebook on Amazon. For updates, please follow me on social media or subscribe to my newsletter!