When I first showed little gosling “The bear and the piano” by David Litchfield, he hesitantly accepted to read it. By the time we finished the story, he liked it so much that he kept asking for it again and again.
This was part of a batch of books I had bought to introduce little gosling to the world of (classical) music, to familiarise him with musical instruments. The piano seemed like a great start. He loves bears and, since he was a few months old, we have listened to relaxing piano music at sleep time. After reading the book, he was curious to listen to some piano pieces, when I made the suggestion. He now asks for the piano music himself sometimes.
A bear cub comes across a piano in the forest and grows up learning to play it beautifully. Heard by humans, he becomes a great star in the big bright city. Nostalgic, he returns to the forest to find that his friends have cherished his piano and have proudly followed his career, collecting newspaper clips of his achievements.
A good introduction to the notions of success, life-changing decisions and homesickness. I like the disinterested way in which it depicts friendship and the way in which it underlines the importance of the inextricable bonds with our roots and home. It shows the tough choices one may face to follow one’s dreams, but also that success can, but does not need to be lonely. All quite complex concepts for the youngest ones, but on a much deeper level than what they perceive at first sight. I love the forest illustrations, so warm and bright, as well as the melancholic bear. Very endearing! It features a beautiful double-page illustration of a full concert hall, all eyes on the big piano and the fancily dressed up bear, which serves as a good introduction to kids, together with the associated vocabulary.
Little gosling gets excited with the “pianooo!” and very curious about the bear’s friendship with the little girl who takes him to the city; he looks to identify her in all images. He’s living all the emotions together with the bear, most strongly the homesickness; the only lines in the book he recites are “He missed his forest. He missed his old friends. He missed home”. And we spent some time observing the bear sitting up on the rooftops and looking over the river to his forest. He shares the bear’s surprise (coupled with disappointment on little gosling’s side) at finding the clearing empty and the sheer joy at seeing the piano kept safe and all his bear friends happy to see him again.
