Product Description

Winner of the Young Judges’ Award for Smarties Prize 1993.

Only William knows about the big great bear living under the stairs. He’s sure he saw one lurking there. This beautifully illustrated book dealing with childhood fears is wonderfully poetic and reassuring.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #545179 in Books
• Published on: 2003-01-10
• Released on: 2003-01-10
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: 5.44" h x .12" w x 4.19" l, .9 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 39 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Anyone who's ever suffered an irrational fear will sympathize heartily with William, who's convinced that a grizzly bear lurks in the closet beneath the stairs. His apprehension blossoms to the point where he begins saving morsels from meals and tossing them quickly into the closet ("wham, bang, thump!") as tokens of appeasement. Finally, his mother sniffs out the problem (literally), and tackles it head-on, sending William's fear packing (and the bear as well--a tongue-in-cheek final illustration shows the grizzly parachuting into new territory, carpetbag in hand). Cooper's sunny approach to a common childhood anxiety is bolstered by deft use of light and shadow in her soft-focus watercolor and pencil art, which visually reinforces the elusive, imaginary nature of William's concern. Ages 3-7.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
Kindergarten-Grade 2-William is scared of bears and the place under the stairs. Ergo, it is easy for him to convince himself that a bear lives there. To appease the animal, the boy tosses it leftover table scraps. Eventually, the inevitable occurs, and a strange aroma pervades the house, prompting his mother to investigate. She and William open the door to find an old furry rug, a broken chair, horrible stinky food strewn everywhere...but no bear. Or is there? For, skulking in the shadows and sneaking off into the distance, a bear can be seen, and, disappearing along with it, are William's fears. While Dick Gackenbach's Harry and the Terrible Whatzit (Clarion, 1979) and Mercer Mayer's There's a Nightmare in My Closet (Dial, 1985) remain the definitive explorations of a child's imagination run rampant, Cooper does a nice job. The somber, homey illustrations, combined with an offbeat rhyme scheme, capture the slightly skewed world of a youngster's surmountable fear.
Anna DeWind, Milwaukee Public Library
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews
This monster-in-a-closet is a daytime fear: William's grizzly invades his imagination when he spies something dark behind the door in the big, shadowy hall. As pictured, the bear is dauntingly large but not entirely fierce; pre-text takes show him arriving by bus, with luggage, an umbrella, and a mischievous glint in his eye. Still, he lurks in corners and under tables, so William finds it prudent to feed him; with eyes shut tight, he tosses offerings under the stairs until the smell alerts his parents and William explains; then he and Mom clean out the closet, shine light on the old chair with a furry rug over it, and shop for a cuddly teddy. Cooper's spare, nicely cadenced text offers a pleasing number of rhyming words (``lair''; ``pear''; etc.); the muted colors and shadowy corners in her perceptive illustrations nicely evoke the elusive boundaries, in a child's mind, between fantasy and reality. Unusually appealing. (Picture book. 3-7) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.