Pistes d'exploration

Discuss the title and illustration. Make connections as you read. Reflect on a time when you felt annoyed or ignored by a friend.

Notice the punctuation. Read along with the text, using appropriate intonation based on the punctuation.

What can you infer about how the bear is feeling based on the illustrations? If there were thought bubbles above his head, what might they say?

What does a “splendid friend” mean to you? Write and draw to show what you would do together. Share your thinking with the class.

Preview the vocabulary words and expressions that are important for comprehension (duck, friend, What are you doing?, think, hungry, snack, etc.).

Retell the story with the whole class, using appropriate intonation. Divide the class in two, with one group playing the duck, the other playing the bear. Then exchange roles.

Match pictures and labels of the previewed vocabulary.

Compile a class list of activities you like doing with friends. Write about and illustrate a favourite. Make a class version of A Splendid Friend, Indeed for the teacher. Make your own version in three or four pictures. 

Boris Starts School, A Visitor for Bear

Mots-clés

Picture book , acceptance , bears , friendship , geese , individuality

Commentaire descriptif

Children and adults alike will recognize the dynamics between a little goose, full of admiration, and a big polar bear who can’t be bothered. “What are you reading? I like to read.” Sweet, simple language conveys all the eager yearning of the little one, while the illustrations depict the beleaguered bear’s tolerance with great hilarity. In one image, webbed feet squash down on the bear’s head—his tiny eyes popping, forced to stare into the upside-down face of the chattering goose. In another they sit side by side, the adoring duck imitating the bear’s pose exactly. The bear rolls his eyes. Soft-edged forms create the charming characters and minimal backgrounds. The bear’s white fur is articulated with thick oil-pastel markings; the goose’s white feathers are smooth and rounded. Their pale coats pop against backgrounds of subtly smudged blue, white, and green. The goose’s persistence is rewarded when the bear finally responds to a note: “I like you. Indeed I do. You are my splendid friend.” Readers of all ages will rejoice at the final image of the two creatures, mashed together in a joyous bear-hug. “My splendid friend, indeed.”