Product Description

A gentle and deeply moving story of a young girl and her bear, told with great charm by a master storyteller. High in the mountains, in a tiny village, an abandoned bear cub is adopted by a lonely orphan child. Soon they are inseparable, beloved by the whole village -- safe, until the arrival of a glamorous film crew who need a dancing bear...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #925617 in Books
• Published on: 2003-03-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 48 pages

Review
It's rare to find a story that combines so successfully a contemporary plot and modern morality with a feel for legend and fairy tale. She Magazine

From the Back Cover
High in the mountains, in a tiny village, an abandoned bear cub is adopted by a lonely orphan child.

Soon they are inseparable, beloved by whole village - safe, until the arrival of a glamorous film crew who need a dancing bear...

A gentle and deeply moving story, told with great charm by award-winning author Michael Morpurgo.

About the Author
Michael divides his time between his writing and running Farms for City Children, a charity which each year takes up to 3,000 children to a working farm for a week. Michael and his wife Clare were awarded MBEs this year for their work with the charity. Before the first farm opened 22 years ago, Morpurgo was a teacher and his knowledge of children's experiences, plus his experience of farms enrich his writing enormously. Michael Morpurgo has won the Whitbread Children's Book Award, and the Smarties Book Prize.

Customer Reviews

Another beautiful book from the best children's author ever.
Michael Morpurgo is a wonderful writer. This short story, perfectly complemented by Christian Birmingham's beautiful illustrations, is one that every child should read. The little village, tucked away in the mountains, is old-fashioned, cut off from the outside world and everyone is untainted by the modern way of life. "We are a world of our own and we like it that way." The arrival of Niki the world-famous singer and his film crew, contrast oddly with the peaceful, slow-moving world of the village people. Bruno is strong and lovable, and Roxanne a beautiful, gentle girl, who is inseparable from her beloved bear. All the characters have clear-cut personalities - the grandfather crusty and bitter, Tiny cheerful and comical, the narrator a solitary old man, "content with my own company and my music."
The illustrations are wonderful - they capture the whole spirit of the mountains, the old-fashioned village, and Roxanne and the bear's happiness. I would recommend this story to anyone, children and adults alike, and also to read any of Michael Morpurgo's other books. "What the eye doesn't see the heart doesn't long for" but in this case I think it would be an offence not to "see" this!

The dancing bear - a story
I was given the dancing bear as a child of about 8 for christmas. I read this book and listened to it every day. The story began telling you about the narrator that never gets named but you expect him to be Michael Mulpurgo. It tells you of an orphan called Roxanne who lives with her unkind unlce. One day she comes back from her wonderings with a small bear cub and perswades the village to let her keep him. As the story progresses it tells you about what they did as small children with the bear bruno. Then a film crew come to their high mountain village and shoot a video similar to the pied piper. The whole village is included and so is bruno.It ends with Roxanne leaving to become a singing star and bruno dieing. It is a very sad but moving story, but even now years and years after i last read it and last heard the tape's music i can still remember it as if i can hear it right now. It is a wonderful and touching book that i recomend to anyone who can feel.

AWESOME!
This book is about an inseparable friendship between a beautiful but poor orphan girl called Roxanne and a bear, named Bruno, which was looked after by her since he was only a poor little orphan cub. All the characters have clear-cut personalities - the grandfather is very crusty and bitter, Tiny is a cheerful and comical character who always brightens up even the dullest of moments and makes everyone smile, the narrator a solitary old man who teaches the children, at the local school, but he wanted to be a shepherd - in a way he was a shepherd but he herded children instead of sheep. This was a very moving story and was written brilliantly by Michael Morpurgo, who is a great writer. This book is good for all ages and quite a short but also definitely a wonderful read.