There, There

by Tim Beiser and Lex Croucher

For fans of Penguin Problems and A Birthday for Bear, the story of a whiny rabbit pushing a patient bear to the end of his tether and learning a lesson in looking on the bright side.

Do you ever feel like everything is terrible? Like nothing is ever right and you just want to hide under your pillow? Well Rabbit does, and he's not shy about sharing it. He whines, he complains, he moans, he grumps... until Bear has had enough...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1770497528
• ISBN13: 9781770497528
• Release Date: June 2017
• Publisher: Tundra Books (NY)
• Length: 24 Pages
• Weight: 0.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 8.1" x 10.0"
• Age Range: 3 to 7 years
• Grade Range: Preschool to Grade 2

Customer Reviews

There, There is just So-so

This is a fair book, but for sure not a favorite. The premise is a good one. Hare is whiny and upset because his friend Bear and he are stuck inside. Hare starts looking for things to be upset about (though the moldy carrots that he finds under the sink would probably upset me as well), and at first Bear consoles him saying, “there, there.” After going through this same scenario again and again Bear gets fed up, and goes about showing Hare a life much worse than their own, and then Hare comes to his senses. When written out like that, I think I’d really like to read this book, but the execution wasn’t quite right. Before getting into the nitty-gritty, I’ll say my biggest issue was the writing style, and that is one of the top things I look at no matter the book. Rating a children’s book is a bit different than rating an adult book. I have a few basic things that I look at on top of how enjoyable it was to read, though I find that most books with all of these key elements have a tendency to be more enjoyable than those without. Readability: Now, not every book has to be a one or two sentence per page type book, with mostly sight words. My 5-year-old daughter really enjoys books that are lengthier, and we usually have a chapter book we read from every night along with her picture books. In other words it doesn’t have to be something SHE has to be able to read easily, but it does have to be something that I can read easily. The issue with readability in this book was the rhyming scheme. I know some people liked it, but it was really hard for me to get into, and where I usually like doing voices for these types of books even that was a challenge. This book did not have a good flow. I actually feel this story would have been stronger without the rhyming, and I probably would have rated it higher. It’s OK to write a children’s book without rhymes. This book has a good enough message that it was unneeded anyway, especially since in my opinion it was done poorly. Storyline: You’d be amazed how many children’s books are out there with a storyline that isn’t appropriate for kids, or storylines that aren’t good in general. Books that make you wonder why they were written in the first place. This book for sure has a good message, though I felt it was really heavy-handed, and it got old fast. Hare became obnoxious, and I even caught my daughter’s interest start to wane. This isn’t a super long book, but it started to feel like it was. Storyline feeds into being relatable as well. As in, if the child can grasp the moral of the story and whatnot. I don’t think that was an issue here; as long as you could keep your child interested long enough to get to the moral. Artwork: I wasn’t super impressed with the artwork either. I don’t know that there was anything really wrong with it; I just didn’t care for it. The hare looks like a pretty rough and scraggly character, and I probably would have tried for a different aesthetic myself. In the end the idea was there, and it has a good message, one that a lot of adults could take into mind as well. I suppose if I knew someone with a child that was as big of a brat as the hare in this story I miiiiight suggest this book, but probably not. It’s just an ok, meh, kind of book. Nothing real special about it. **I was given a copy of this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review**