Graduates, retirees, job-changers…really just about everybody will like this book

High school graduations are coming soon to a family or neighborhood near you, and finding the right gift can be tough.  When I graduated from high school, one of my uncles gave me a luggage cart instead of his traditional dictionary/thesaurus combo.  I’ve always been grateful for that.  He saw in me something that I didn’t see in myself yet.

Well, my friends, The Bear and the Piano is here to help solve your problem.  And even if you don’t have any graduations or major life changes coming up around you, you should still read it.  Really.

I read The Bear and the Piano without even thinking about the two family favorites who are finishing high school this year until one of the last pages – you’ll know what I mean when you see the book yourself.   This amazing bear heads off into the world, completely out of his element, and when he decides to return home, he wonders if everyone he’s missed will have forgotten him.  The ending is such a powerful reminder of how leaving your home can be a challenge and full of exciting opportunities, but that going away doesn’t mean all of the people who’ve cared about you will forget you.

What a beautiful book!  I can’t shut up about it, partly because the message is such a positive and beautiful one which could remind children (big and small) that they connect with and carry with them many people – family, friends, neighbors, teachers, school custodians, librarians…  We have such mobile lives, and this book is also a way to acknowledge that people retire or move to different jobs or find a new home and still don’t forget about the people they love.

So, if Kate or Shelby’s parents are reading this, DO NOT get them this book.  It will come from me, along with a note to remind them that we’re all excited about their great new adventures, and we’ll be loving them and cheering them on from a distance

The Bear and the Piano by David Litchfield