In the year 2000, when this book was first published, I wanted to create a book which could be given to a child who was starting school at the age of 5 years and which could be read by them progressively until the age of 11 years when they either moved up to ‘Middle or High School’. I also wanted to mark their memory of the New Millennium with their own special book.
Because the reading age between all children of between 5 years of age and 11 is so vast, this project naturally involved the writing of a number of stories that catered for children of different chronological ages and reading abilities.
The outcome of this idea was the publication of the book ‘Bes’, which contained four interdependent stories that linked in theme. The four stories would concern four types of creatures, a bear (for 5-7 year old readers), an elephant (for 7-9 year old readers), a sheep (for 9-11 year old readers), and a New Millennium spiritual creature called ‘Bes’, who was part bear, part elephant and part sheep in both appearance and disposition(for 9-13 year old reader).
The Bear with a Sore Head’, is a story to be ‘read to’ and ‘read with’ the 5-7 year old child. Its overall aim is to remind the young reader that ‘how’ one gets out of bed each morning will depend ‘how good or bad a day’ one experiences. It is also hoped that the child will see the benefits that can be derived from being ‘positive’ in attitude at the start of the day.
