#171 of 1001 · January 18, 2021

It’s an odd environment indeed you’ll discover among the pages of @taonyeu’s Wonder Bear. In this wordless picture book, two children till the soil of a hilltop garden. They label a single seed with the sign of a blue top hat, and then go to sleep in a bed out under a night of stars. To their surprise, they awaken to find that the seed has grown into a towering plant on which a flower bud opens to reveal a large, white bear in a blue top hat just like the one on the sign. The bear proceeds to enact a series of marvels (pulling a troupe of acrobatic monkeys out of the hat, blowing soap bubble lions, chewing up flowers and leaves only to spit out a wave of marine animals) before tucking the children back into bed, climbing into the hat, and sailing off into the starry dark. Throughout the encounter, the bear’s presence remains gentle and comforting, despite the joyful wildness of each exotic display. With bright, solid colors and bold, thickly drawn ink lines, Nyeu’s silkscreened art beckons readers into a topsy-turvy domain that sits in the hazily liminal space between the dreaming and the waking. #wonder #bear #garden #monkeys #fish #sleep #dream #book #books #childrensbooks #beautifulbooks #picturebook #picturebooks #picturebookillustration #picturebookillustrations #picturebookart #childrensbookillustration #childrensliterature #illustration #kidlit #kidsbooks #bookworm #booklover #booklovers #bibliophile #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bookstagrammers #instabook #instabooks