Koala Bare's central character is first seeen in a toy store where he tells us just that, most emphatically.
He's a bit of a cranky koala, really. Frustrated at the world thinking he is a koala bear, when he's just a koala. No bear about it.
Young Koala explains his way through a variety of characteristics which are attributed to bears of assorted types, and tells us how he is different.
Koalas are not colourful like toy bears, and they don't eat and drink like pandas, polar bears, or the bears who go on teddy bears' picnics.
Koalas like to sleep, but not hibernate. They'd rather hang about in a tree soaking up some sun. And koalas do not wear clothes like some bears. They go through life bare -- koala bare.
If you've ever been frustrated by people thinking you're something you're not, then you'll empathise with Koala's story. He just wants to be known as himself.
You won't argue with Koala, who makes it quite clear, through Jackie French's fun and informative rhyming text, just what a koala is and is not.
Matt Shanks' appealing illustrations are full of many types of bears in a range of situations both realistic and silly. I loved the cymbal-playing koala trying to wake the hibernating bears, while his little koala mate wears a set of noise-cancelling headphones.
In Koala Bare, Jackie French and Matt Shanks have created a uniquely Australian story for young children.
Show your support for koalas everywhere -- read Koala Bare and share the message that there's no such thing as a koala bear, only a bare koala!
Title: Koala Bare
Author: Jackie French
Illustrator: Matt Shanks
Publisher: Harper Collins, $24.99
Publication Date: September 2017
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 9781460751619
For ages: 3+
Type: Picture book
