Overview

Bartholomew leads a quiet life, but is a kindly sort of bear, so when he meets the fly-bug, who is in a terribly tremendous hurry to find the bright lights, he decides to help him get to the big bright city.

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Bartholomew and the grizzly bear's encounter with a bug can be read from the pictures alone or from the text. Both are straightforward and unadorned, but putting them together makes a deliciously humourous whole in which the bear's stolidity contrasts with the ditzy little bug who just wants to party. The bug has just one day to live and wants to make the most of it, so finding himself in the wilderness with a snoozy bear as his only company is a disappointment. But Bartholomew is not without compassion or ingenuity, so between them they make their way to the bright lights of the faraway city where bug has the time of his life and bear learns that it is fun to sing, dance and party - now and again. The illustrations for the most part are flat and nineteenth-fiftiesish looking, and are laid on matt paper. Layton's line is scribbley and child-like and the type is a sort of thickened Courier apart from the speech bubbles through which bear and bug interact. All these actually very sophist -- Book for Keeps 20050301 OSCAR AND ARABELLA: Oscar and Arabella are endearing woolly mammoths who yearn for adventures as long as they aren't scary. Stone Age life can be perilous but there's fun too, and ultimately they have one another. Glasgow-based Neal Layton uses mixed media, including collage and felt-tip to create his anarchic books. -- Glasgow Herald 20020501 This is a most original and inventive book, as well as being a good introduction to woolly mammoths and the concept of extinction. The illustrations are lively and simple ... while background detail, such as the graffiti in the cave where they are doing their prehistoric painting, adds some fun. Altogether, this is an enjoyable story in simple language, and it should provide an enticing introduction to prehistory. -- Early Years Educator 20020501 'Illustrator Neil Layton does wonderfully messy, child-friendly drawings against hip, graphic backgrounds.' -- The Daily Mail 20041125

Bartholomew and the grizzly bear's encounter with a bug can be read from the pictures alone or from the text. Both are straightforward and unadorned, but putting them together makes a deliciously humourous whole in which the bear's stolidity contrasts with the ditzy little bug who just wants to party. The bug has just one day to live and wants to make the most of it, so finding himself in the wilderness with a snoozy bear as his only company is a disappointment. But Bartholomew is not without compassion or ingenuity, so between them they make their way to the bright lights of the faraway city where bug has the time of his life and bear learns that it is fun to sing, dance and party - now and again. The illustrations for the most part are flat and nineteenth-fiftiesish looking, and are laid on matt paper. Layton's line is scribbley and child-like and the type is a sort of thickened Courier apart from the speech bubbles through which bear and bug interact. All these actually very sophist - Book for Keeps OSCAR AND ARABELLA: Oscar and Arabella are endearing woolly mammoths who yearn for adventures as long as they aren't scary. Stone Age life can be perilous but there's fun too, and ultimately they have one another. Glasgow-based Neal Layton uses mixed media, including collage and felt-tip to create his anarchic books. - Glasgow Herald This is a most original and inventive

First U.S. edition of a UK prizewinner, this brief tale sends a kindhearted bear and a short-lived crane flying off to the Big City. Having always been mildly curious about the glow just visible at the edge of his wilderness haunts, Bartholomew is moved to depart from his comfortable routine when a hyper insect, desperate to reach the bright lights, bumps into his nose. Though the sojourn turns out to be far longer than expected, and first impressions rather disappointing as they arrive in daytime, once the sun goes down and the lights come up, it's Party time with a capital P. Layton pairs occasionally errant lines of text, and exclamatory comments in balloons, to scribbly illustrations that underscore the amusing contrasts between the lumbering bear and his tiny, frantic companion. Having seen the bug and a lady friend flit off into ecstatic electrocution after a night of good times, Bartholomew returns to his woodland retreat with both fond memories and a new taste for the occasional fling. A lighthearted take on mortality, as well as the old truth that travel is a broadening experience. (Picture book. 6-8) (Kirkus Reviews)

Author Information

Neal Layton was born in Chichester, West Sussex. Many of his ideas come he says from his childhood. In the past he has worked on a lettuce farm, in a chocolate factory, a teapot factory, a book shop and has delivered papers. Neal has illustrated more than 40 books to date working with award winning authors such as Michael Rosen and Roger McGough. 'Oscar and Arabella' which he both wrote and illustrated won him the Smarties prize in 2003. He now lives in Southsea, Portsmouth with his girlfriend who is also an artist

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