The bear’s friends hang special objects in the tree above the piano. Could you create something similar to record your own special achievements and memories? Write a letter from the bear to his family at the point when he is recording albums and winning awards for his music. Write a newspaper article about the bear’s first performance. Use the headlines shown in the illustrations as a starting point. SABRE DANCE – Khachaturian was a Russian composer in the 20th century. The Sabre Dance is his most famous piece and has been used in dozens of films, most recently Madagascar 3.

Find out more about the author’s A Drawing a Day project. Could you try to create a drawing every day? The bear sees something ‘that made his fur stand on end’. What does this mean? Have you ever felt a similar feeling?

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The Daily Mail —‘A sumptuous treat… [Litchfield] weaves magic with light and space…The ending will have your heart soaring like a soprano’s top C.’ When you watch the full animation, listen out for the following pieces of music and learn more about the composers who wrote them. You’ll be surprised how many you will recognise: The Bear and the Piano animation score includes some well-known piano pieces written over the last 400 years alongside Daniel Whibley’s original music. Watch the trailer below: PRELUDE IN C – This was written by J.S Bach, a German composer, in the 1700s. Bach had 20 Children. Imagine Christmas day at his house!

When the bear is learning to play the piano, different illustrations show the same scene at different times of the year. Could you create a similar sequence of images? Make a list of arguments ‘for’ and ‘against’ the bear leaving the forest and going to the city (or when he is in the city thinking about going home again). The bear plays his piano on Broadway. Where is this? Can you find out more about it and write a travel guide? Watch this animation that was created to promote the book. Could you create your own animated trailer?

When the bear plays, he dreams of strange and wonderful lands. Listen to a piece of piano music and draw / write / describe what it makes you dream of. Huffington Post —‘A heart-warming and beautifully illustrated tale of music, friendship and adventure.’ ARABESQUE No 1 – The French composer Debussy never had much money during the first world war, when coal was so expensive. Debussy paid for it by writing compositions for the coal man.