Inspired by a childhood teddy bear given to her by her grandmother, Jane has written and illustrated more than 20 picture books featuring Old Bear. Jane continued to nurture her passion through adulthood and studied illustration and design, later becoming an Art teacher and settling down with her husband Ivan and their 3 children Owen, Alison & Ralph. When she wasn’t doing this she would spend days at a time sitting in her favorite tree, reading the likes of Arthur Ransome and Enid Blyton. 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. Recognized in both publishing and TV, Jane Hissey is best known for her children’s book series Old Bear & Friends.

Jane continued to nurture her passion through adulthood and studied illustration and design, later becoming an Art teacher and settling down with her husband Ivan and their 3 children Owen, Alis

As a child growing up in Norfolk, Jane developed a love for writing and drawing. First published in 1986, it later became the inspiration for BAFTA award winning TV series Old Bear Stories. All ages.Recognized in both publishing and TV, Jane Hissey is best known for her children’s book series Old Bear & Friends. In fact, some of the pictures (or fragments of pictures) are reproduced more than once, which makes the book look pasted up and hastily packaged.

But unlike the author's picture books, in this story book there are disappointingly few illustrations (mostly portraits in Hissey's characteristic careful textures rather than action shots) from the marvelous descriptions of the new adventures, readers familiar with the other books may anticipate illustrations that simply are not included. Each brief, endearing chapter stands on its own, and these chronicles may be sampled in any order. Decorating the doll's house for Christmas brings out the best in all of the stuffed animals, and an early-early spring picnic (with hot water bottle) turns from a restful repast into an exciting ride home. One bear wishes to be wrapped up for Christmas, so he might once again surprise the children who own him another wishes to change his name but finds that the risk of acquiring a new monicker is that no one knows him. Readers who enjoyed Old Bear and Little Bear's Trousers are granted longer visits with Old Bear, Bramwell Brown, Lucy the rabbit and Duck, and will meet many new friends as well.

Jane hissey old bear books