The Bear's Water Picnic and Other Stories

By: Quentin Blake, John Yeoman

Narrated by: Hugh Dennis

All the Year Round: Discover the most entertaining way to spend the year – with a spot of spring cleaning (that ends in a mess), a summer picnic (invaded by ants), Halloween dress-up (or not, if you’re already scary) and the only thing to be done in December …

Alphabet Soup: The alphabet in rhyme – A is for Actor/who's learning his part; /B is for Baker/who's baking a tart.

The Bear's Water Picnic: The bear has organised a picnic on the river for his friends. It's the perfect day and everything is going swimmingly until they are disturbed by a loud croaking noise from among the lily pads. It's the frogs! They want to join in, but the friends don't fancy putting up with the noise, so they move on to a quieter part of the lake. Unfortunately they soon find themselves in a spot of bother, and only the frogs can help them!

Crash! The Waldo and Wanda Book of Practical Hints: Waldo and Wanda present the easy-to-follow audiobook of essential skills. Disaster hovers not far away ...

The Do It Yourself House that Jack Built: When Jack starts to build his own do-it-yourself house he finds it isn't quite as easy as he had expected. On the left side of each spread are the traditional verses, while on the right, the characters act out the story.

The Fabulous Foskett Family Circus: Roll up, roll up for the Fabulous Foskett Family Circus! There are Milly and Willy who perform with young Fred, who does a back flip and lands on his head. Uncle Phoenix Foskett who blows smoke rings, Jess and Bess with their conjuring tricks, not to mention singing dogs and birds and performing parrots.

Three Little Owls: Three irrepressible little owls take us on their journey round the world, from one Christmas Day to the next – fishing, dancing, snoozing and NOT behaving.

Meet The Family: Meet Uncle Marvello and Auntie Shazam – magicians extraordinaire ... they can even make your watch disappear. And Cousin Charlie, who cooks up a feast ... then eats it all himself.

Mrs Armitage and the Big Wave: Mrs Armitage arrives on the beach with her surf board and her faithful dog Breakspear, and she paddles out to sea to wait for the big wave. However, she has to return to the beach several times before she is comfortably equipped.

Mrs Armitage Queen of the Road: When Uncle Cosmo buys himself a motorbike and gives Mrs Armitage his boring old car, it soon becomes obvious that her driving skills leave a lot to be desired. As the bumper, the doors, the mudguard and even the roof disappear along the way, the car is transformed into a mean machine and Mrs Armitage becomes Queen of the Road!

Our Village: A collection of poems introducing the memorable residents of a village, including the baker, Mr Crumb, absent-minded Dotty Lou and Mr Mandolini and his dancing bear.

Featherbrains: When Flossie and Bessie escape from the battery farm, they find it difficult to adjust to the outside world.

©2010 John Yeoman, Quentin Blake (P)2021 Bolinda Publishing

Critic reviews

"Engagingly eccentric...deliciously dynamic." (The Times)

"Wonderful...absolute treat of a read." (Sun)

"Fabulous fun...the jaunty rhythm will carry young readers delightedly from page to page." (Irish Times)