Independent Reading: Benjamin Bear

This year the second independent reader by frenchman Philippe Coudray was published in the US. I wasn't familiar with his work, but when I read 2013's Benjamin Bear in Bright Ideas! I knew I had to get my hands on his first book, Benjamin Bear in Fuzzy Thinking. So here's a review of the two, which are of equal appeal and high quality.

Each page is a comic featuring Benjamin Bear and his ideas and logic. The comics are low on words, big on critical thinking. How does Benjamin Bear find his way out of a maze? His fruit rots, and he follows the trail of ants. When a sheep complains to Benjamin Bear that he's hot, Benjamin shears the sheep's coat, but then he says he's cold! What does Benjamin Bear do? He knits the sheep a sweater out of the wool. I love these! They're funny and clever, and they require the reader to think. Fuzzy Thinking was nominated for the Eisner Award and has won many prizes in France. Coudray has published many more l'Ours Barnabé books in France, so I hope that means there will be many Benjamin Bear Books to come.