Brother Hugo and the Bear Audio CD – CD, August 25, 2015

A great read-aloud with lovely illustrations and a funny and endearing story.

I love this book! The illustrations are wonderful and my children love the story line, which is entertaining for adults as well.

This is such an oddball book — charming and original. It is based on a fragment of a true account. Apparently once upon a time, in an actual historic record, a copy of Augustine's Confessions was eaten by a bear. And some genius (Katy Beebe) turned it into a quirky and hilarious picture book. It is appropriately salted with old-timey language and illustrated like an illuminated text, complete with huge fancy drop-caps. Our main character Hugo has two big problems: re-copying Confessions to replace the book the bear ate, and returning it to the abbey that loaned it without losing another copy to the bear's appetite. The detailed description of the process of making a book is so compelling, my kids want to comb the woods for "nutgalls" and try to make ink themselves. The second problem, returning the book, is tackled by the other brothers in an unexpected fashion, to great delight amongst the readers. The back of the book includes historical notes, a glossary, and notes from the author and illustrator. We chanced upon it at the library and liked it so much, I bought a copy. Excellent!

It's a charming story based on historical fact, and it does not have a forced happy ending. Special to me is the fact that the author is the daughter of a history-loving friend with whom I taught.

It's really fun, and an entertaining introduction to medieval manuscript production.

What a fun and clever book! Great use of language and lovely illustrations. My 5 yr old asks me to read it over and over!

Great introduction to how books were made with excellent illustrations. And I loved that the story is based on a problem that actually happened.

This is one of my most favorite books!!! A must for any calligrapher's library.

This delightful story about a monk whose library book gets eaten by a bear is funny and heart warming as well as being educational. The illustrations are beautiful. It is aimed at 5-9 year old - the story is told in medieval language so my 4 year old will need to wait a little while until he can understand it all but in the meantime he is enjoying finding the bear in the pictures!

Brilliant. Great story, wonderful illustrations - a very special contemporary manuscript!!