The debut children's book from award-winning poet Raymond Antrobus about a father-and-son journey into the discovery and management of deafness.
Boy Bear cannot hear Dad Bear coming to wake him up in the morning. He only grasps little bits of what his teacher and friends say to him. And, all the time, Boy Bear keeps hearing the question, “Can bears ski?” What does it mean? With the support of Dad Bear, Boy Bear visits an audiologist and gets hearing aids. And suddenly, he understands... "CAN YOU HEAR ME?" Now with an illustrated BSL alphabet included, Raymond and Polly draw from their personal experiences of deafness to show how isolating it can be for a deaf child in a hearing world and all the many different ways to communicate love.
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I was so happy to illustrate this book as it's a story very close to my heart. My mum is profoundly deaf and both myself and my son wear hearing aids. This book speaks so beautiful to those who are hard of hearing or deaf and also gives insight to those with full hearing. Below is a picture of Raymond and I at Edinburgh Book Festival, August 2022.
Rose Ayling-Ellis read 'Can Bears Ski?' On CBeebies bedtime stories. It was their first book told in BSL and was beautiful to watch.
Great news, Pied Piper Theatre company has received arts council funding to make Can Bears Ski? into a stage play. The show will tour theatres and schools, more on this soon!
I recently teamed up with the brilliant Rebecca Atkinson, co-founder of TOY LIKE ME. Rebecca is also deaf and is an old school friend of mine. Inspired by the book she had the idea to bring the audiology unit to life. We made a life size version where children can come and have their bear's (or soft toy of any variety) ears tested and come away with their very own pair of 3D printed toy hearing aids. It was launched at Norwich Deaf festival in 2022 and will hopefully return year on year as well as popping up in other cities. The project was had full funding so we were able to give the aids away for free. The hearing aids are available from the Toy Like Me Etsy shop.
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Click on the white arrows <.....> below to read the comic I wrote 'Be Deaf Aware for Your Bear' to go along side the Bear Ear Clinic.
