The book is a metaphorical and fictional account of how Wise and met his wife met in real life, who helped him overcome a knee injury. The Very Bear symbolizes the Olympian, with his wife as The Butterfly (“Flutters”), who changes his whole world for the better. Such obstacle (in the form of a weasel named Slypp giving the bear a hard time through hibernation) made a friendly bear grumpy, where he forgot how to be friendly.
The book serves didactic purposes, where one can learn how to regain control and focus when things don’t go the way one expects them to. Flutters inspires the Very Bear to see things from a different perspective, which allows him to empathize with the other animals in the forest, and the weasel Slypp.
Very Bear and The Butterfly is available in Kindle format on Amazon, and as a hard copy via the publisher’s website by clicking here, and David Wise’s official homepage.
The Verdict
Overall, Very Bear and The Butterfly is a well-written children’s book by David Wise, and the illustrations by Harry Lau are vibrant and visually stunning, thus helping bring the fable to life. This heart-warming book is recommended for the entire family as a quintessential bed-time story, or as a read-aloud in elementary schools. It is a story about forgiveness, empathy and compassion; moreover, this is a book whose important subject matter would be a great idea for a short animated children’s film. The latter would be neat if that were to ever happen. Very Bear and The Butterfly garners an A rating.
Read More: Digital Journal chatted with Olympic gold medalist and halfpipe skier David Wise
