Her holidays were spent wandering fields and lanes, conjuring up fantastical worlds with pencil and sketchbook. First published in 1986, it later became the inspiration for BAFTA award winning TV series Old Bear Stories.Īs a child growing up in Norfolk, Jane developed a love for writing and drawing.

There are several other books in the Old Bear series.Recognized in both publishing and TV, Jane Hissey is best known for her children’s book series Old Bear & Friends. It's not really classic literature, but it's warm and friendly, and you can't help feeling good towards Little Bear, Bramwell Brown and the others. Jane Hissey's illustrations are beautifully detailed and the text is nicely readable. Link to 'Little Bear Lost' Reader's Reviews 1Ī simple story that will delight any young fans of the Old Bear series. The reading age of this series would be 5+ or if being read to, slightly younger.

Her stories are therefore great for children to learn basic skills and to promote a happy childhood. Hissey’s stories all encourage a positive outlook on life and touch on different themes such as being loving, caring, polite and kind. Hissey’s illustrations are delicate and beautiful, filled with detail and the text is easy to read and easy to grasp for small children. When they eventually find him in the picnic basket, having eaten the contents of the basket, the toys all decide to go and enjoy a picnic together in the garden.Īll Hissey’s books are lovely, delightful stories that capture children’s imagination. Then they realise that they cannot find ‘Little Bear’ anywhere and so go on a mission to find him. The toys’ begin their game of hide and seek but realise they had forget to have a ‘seeker’ in their game and so ask ‘Old Bear’ to be their seeker. In this particular book, Little Bear is playing Hide and Seek with all the toys. ‘Little Bear Lost’ is one of many in the ‘Old Bear and Friends’ series. From this point on, Old Bear becomes the most respected and fearless toy and guides the younger toys on their everyday adventures, acting as their leader. They complete their mission and bring him down to the playroom. They therefore attempt a rescue mission to bring him back down so he can be with all the other toys. The series begins as the toys play in the playroom and remember that ‘Old Bear’ disappeared long ago, and was probably put in the loft. In her books, she introduces lots of different toy characters all possessing a unique personality. The idea of ‘Old Bear’ comes from Hissey’s childhood, where she was given a toy bear and so she used this as inspiration for her stories. Jane Hissey is best known for her series of successful children’s books ‘Old Bear and Friends’, which was later made into a TV series, which won a BAFTA. When the toys play a game of hife and seek, Little Bear finds a hiding place that is so secret that he disappears!

Little bear lost jane hissey