They were really engaged and held in suspense with the storyline which kept them gripped throughout. Cooper was able to capture the ideas that children often have about whats in the closet, under the bed or in this case under the stairs. When William's mom finally comes to his rescue to combat this scarey bear, he realizes maybe there wasn't a bear there after all. I would have given five stars but there is a tiny sinister streak in the book and the bear is not warm and fuzzy, so is always reminding me of that horror film, The Orphanage. This is a three-week Writing Root in which children will look at the book The Bear Under the Stairs and use it as a model to discuss their fears and how they deal with them.

The first came 'The Hippo at the end of the Hall' which was both written and illustrated in black and white by Helen and longlisted for the Carnegie medal in writing. This could be used to encourage children that any fears or problems they have can be overcome when shared with others. Although the book is full of beautiful (sometimes scary) illustrations and visual descriptions, I thought it was a very difficult story for young children to make sense of. The only downside is that a few pages do have a dark color scheme that may not be as attractive to younger children.

This is an interesting story for children mainly due to many interpretations that children will have regarding the story. I love Helen Cooper: her stories are always thought-provoking and with gorgeously detailed illustrations. This is a great book to help any young child who harbours fears of thinking there are strange things going on in the house. Overall I think that this would be a good book to read aloud to young students and could get a few "ohh's" and "aww's" during story time. I think it would be a great class read maybe as part of a PSHCE section or if it came up as a worry for children.

When I read this with my 3-year-old nephew, we talk about options the little boy has to deal with the 'bear. The illustrations are done in soft watercolors and do well to represent Williams’s imaginary fears using a dark, shadowy, smudgy technique at times. Find out what happens when a nastly smell pervades the house and Mum and William decide to investigate . William is afraid of the cupboard under the stairs he is convinced there is a big bear living there. Children will particularly like the imaginative bear scenes such as what the bear does at night while William sleeps and the bear holding his luggage while parachuting down to a new house at the end.Unfortunately it teaches entirely the wrong moral: that there are no monsters lurking in darkness, waiting for us. Fearing the bear will want to eat him if he gets hungry, William brings the bear food every day, tossing it in quickly with his eyes shut tight. Helen Cooper is a significant and prolific author who won the Kate Greenaway award twice for two consecutive books. Cooper also shows what a bear may get up to at night, and whilst William is scared of the bear, perhaps the bear is also scared of William!

Her books have been translated into 30 languages and won many awards including the Library Association Kate Greenaway Medal – twice. There was no wifi, and the TV was tiny, with only two channels, and even those only worked when the clouds were the right shape.Spelling Seeds have been designed to complement Writing Roots by providing weekly, contextualised sequences of sessions for the teaching of spelling that include open-ended investigations and opportunities to practise and apply within meaningful and purposeful contexts, linked (where relevant) to other areas of the curriculum and a suggestion of how to extend the investigation into home learning. Helen Cooper is an author and illustrator whose work includes classic titles such as The Bear Under the Stairs, Pumpkin Soup, The Baby Who Wouldn’t Go to Bed and Tatty Ratty. I acknowledge the fact that it may relate to some children's fears of dark isolated rooms and big furniture looking like scary creatures, or even that these things can be our imagination. Her books have been translated into 26 languages and won many awards including the Library Association Kate Greenaway Medal – twice.