Even though bears of various kinds lived in the town—black and white, striped and nicely coiffed—one of them always stood out: Linus. His fur was so scraggy that you could only see the tip of his nose. He didn’t work and danced through the streets like a spinning top. This bear was a hair-raising nuisance.
He was called lazy and locked up. When asked about his behaviour by the bear judge, Linus admitted not to know the reason and that he would have to look for the answer. So he was called a fool and chased out of town.
Linus, who couldn’t help but be happy, was almost even happier when he lived far from the town. Here, he encountered travelling bears. They also wanted to know who he was and why he was here. When they heard that he was looking for the answer, they thought it clever and henceforth they talked about the wise bear outside the town gates. This is how Linus came to be the great advisor of all travellers. He, who was really only a scraggy, happy bear.
by Britta Gotha & Hanna Jansen
Britta Gotha has created images full of light for Hanna Jansen’s story and has populated them with rather amazing bears.
A story about being different, with wit and poetry both in the text and the images. – Badische Zeitung
“The main character in Hanna Jansen’s story could become an encouraging role model for children who sometimes feel like outsiders or want to escape the pressure to perform.” – Antje Ehmann/kindergarten heute
“Britta Gotha illustrates with sunlit pastel colours a happiness that one cannot imagine any other way.” – Karl-Heinz Behr/Eselsohr
Peter Hammer Verlag | hc | 24 pp | 297 x 210 mm | July 2016 | 4+
Rights sold: Chinese (simplified)
[original German title: Linus im Glück]