Brilliantly simple and most effective, the device of telling a day backwards makes a perfect structure for a picture book. Mummy Bear is tucking Baby Bear up for the night; before falling asleep they recall the story of their incident-packed day. Baby Bear has some dangerous encounters with water – and bees! – but he also enjoys some wonderful honey and enjoys exploring the new world after his long, long wintery sleep. Soft focus illustrations capture the details of the bears’ busy day.
Just before going to bed, Timmy Bear and his mother play a game they call Tell Me the Day Backwards. Timmy tries to remember everything that happened to him that day in reverse order, from watching the sunset on the hill to the picnic supper before that, from being chased by bees to finding honey in an old tree trunk, all the way back to waking up that morning from his winter-long hibernation.
Albert Lamb has worked as a cartoonist, a musician and a writer; Tell Me the Day Backwards is his second book for children. Born in the US in Boston, Massachusetts, he now lives in Gloucestershire.
