Gruff the Grump

by Steve Smallman, Cee Biscoe

Overview

Gruff was a bear.
A great big bear. A great big, scowly, growly, grizzly grump of a bear.

One morning, Gruff the Grump meets a little rabbit clutching a fallen star. The star is just a leaf to grumpy old Gruff. This rabbit needs a big, kind friend to help her, but is Gruff the right bear for the job?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781848698468
Publisher:	Little Tiger Press
Publication date:	09/26/2017
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	10.20(w) x 11.20(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	3 - 18 Years

About the Author

Steve Smallman has taken up writing his own stories after illustrating children's books for over 30 years. He also teaches illustration and mural-painting workshops in schools. When he's not working, Steve enjoys films, television, gardening, and walking in the countryside.

Cee Biscoe studied Children's Book Illustration at Cambridge School of Art, earning an MA in 2007. She lives in Suffolk with her husband and a small yard full of wildlife, many of which creep and crawl their way into her illustrations.

Editorial Reviews

A friendly rabbit melts a bear's grizzly exterior. None of the other animals visits Gruff the bear, who lives in a musty, dusty cave and stomps through the forest wearing a scowl. Gruff, almost against his own will, answers the distress call of a rabbit stuck in a tree and earns an unwanted friend. The bouncy rabbit thanks him elaborately and gives him a golden leaf (which he calls a fallen star) as a memento. Gruff grumbles, but puts the star on his mantle and decides to dust. A few days later, Gruff rescues the rabbit from a log in the middle of the river and receives another star. Can Gruff's grump withstand this full frontal assault? Despite its brevity, Smallman's warm tale has a clear, logical plot development that young listeners will apprehend. Biscoe's expressive depictions, especially of the scowling Gruff, whose underslung jaw sports a couple of protruding canines, have a bit more edge that the author's tales usually prompt. Just enough this side of saccharine to be genuinely sweet. (Picture book. 3-6)

Kirkus Reviews