BEAR

The powerful, humorous yet sensitive story of Jasper, a talented young artist, who learns to face his anger.

Thirteen-year-old Jasper Robinson-Woods is not okay his name is too long, he never sees his dad and he can't sleep because of a terrifying nightmare. Oh, and to top it off, his goldfish is dying. Jasper is overwhelmed with bad thoughts; are they a sign of disaster to come?

Things go from bad to worse when his mother announces her annoying boyfriend is moving in, and his absent father wants to take him on another disappointing road trip. The only place Jasper feels safe is in the tree in his front yard.

But then the unimaginable happens: his nightmare comes to life causing everything to spiral out of control. Jasper risks losing the people he cares about and decides it's finally time to face his nightmare and who it really is.

In doing so, Jasper learns that even when you hit rock bottom, you never know what, and who, is around the corner.

KKiri Lightfoot is an NZ-based author and actor. She has worked as a scriptwriter in children's television and as an actor both for theatre and screen. She continues to work part-time in television and also runs poetry reading sessions in aged-care homes and hospitals with charity 'Active Arts'. Kiri worked for many years as a telephone counsellor with Youthline and as a volunteer mentor in an alternative education school. 'Bear' is her first novel for young adults and was inspired by working with young people at this time. Kiri is now a mother of three school-aged children and lives in central Auckland. Her previous books are picture books: Ming's Iceberg, illustrated by Kimberly Andrews (Scholastic 2021) and Every Second Friday, illustrated by Ben Galbraith (Hodder Children's Books 2008), a shortlist in the New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards 2009.

The illustrations are by artist Pippa Keel Situ.