Can Bears Ski? Written by Raymond Antrobus. Reviewed by Jasper, Age 4

This is a story for young children about Boy Bear who cannot hear Dad Bear coming to wake him up in the morning. He can feel the floor vibrate with his heavy footsteps and he can only grasp little bits of what his teacher says to him at school. He cannot always understand what his friends are laughing at. And, all the time, Boy Bear keeps hearing the question, “Can Bears ski?”

With the support of Dad Bear, Boy Bear visits an audiologist and, eventually, he gets hearing aids. Suddenly, he understands the question everyone has been asking him is not whether he can ski but, “CAN YOU HEAR ME?”

Raymond draws on his own experience to show how isolating it can be for a deaf child in a hearing world. Through his lyrical and moving words, matched with Polly’s stunning imagery, he also helps young children to understand how confusing and alienating it must be for children with an undiagnosed hearing disability, before they get help.

This is a book that encourages empathy and understanding from children without hearing disabilities, but more importably it enables profoundly deaf or partially deaf children to see their experiences described in a book.