Copy Me, Copycub - Softcover

Edwards, Richard

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0711214603 ISBN 13: 9780711214606

Publisher: Frances Lincoln Childrens Bks, 2000

Synopsis

This warm story of little Copycub and his mother is alive with detail and humour. Splashing through swamps, wandering in search of food, berry-picking, finding honey - Copycub learns everything by copying his mother. As the seasons change, so their behaviour must alter, and when winter comes, Copycub's ability to copy his mother finally saves his life. A beautiful story for bedtime or any time, Copycub combines the magic of fine storytelling with Susan Winter's appealing illustrations, creating a book children will want to linger over, again and again.

About this title

About the Author

Richard Edwards was born in Tonbridge, Kent, and has since lived in Italy, France and Spain. He is an acclaimed writer for children and has written over 20 picture books and books of poetry for children. He divides his time between Edinburgh and Barcelona. Susan Winter was born in South Africa and graduated from Natal University before becoming a social worker, first in South Africa and later in London. After the birth of her second child, she studied illustration at Chelsea School of Art, and began a new career as a freelance illustrator of children's books.

From Publishers Weekly

In this reassuring tale from a British team, a mother bear affectionately nicknames her offspring "Copycub" because he learns by doing everything she does. "When his mother splashed through a swamp,/ the cub splashed through a swamp./ When his mother sat down for a scratch, the cub sat down for a scratch." The artwork, in close synchrony with the straightforward text, offers warmly rendered, simply composed watercolors that depict the bears leading an idyllic existence in the north woods. Then winter comes, and the bears must head to a distant cave to hibernate. A single snowflake quickly builds to a blizzard, and it is too much for Copycub. In a series of panels, the little bear slowly collapses in the snow: "He couldn't go one step further. All he wanted to do was lie down and go to sleep." It's a somewhat tense, even shocking moment in the previously gentle, almost lulling story: suddenly, Copycub's ability to mimic his mother becomes a matter of life and death. But Edwards and Winter don't shift gears. Rather, this dramatic turn of events reveals the strength of their understated approach. When the next pages reveal the mother bear nudging her exhausted cub successfully to their cave, the audience's relief will be palpable. Ages 3-7. (Sept.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Frances Lincoln Childrens Bks
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0711214603
• ISBN 13: 9780711214606
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 32