Basil is a hero until his disguise slips

Extract from my book, Brown Bear’s Big Day Out

The story Brown Bear’s Big Day Out is about a bear that lives in a zoo who wants to go to the funfair and to do this he has to escape and therefore has to disguise himself as a person to do so. In the story he becomes a hero until his mask falls off and then everyone is afraid of him. I try in the story to show that we have to look at people more in depth and that what they look like is secondary to what the real person is behind the mask of first impressions. We have become a society obsessed with looks and yet real characteristics are anything but represented by this. In a world where we appear to be increasingly afraid of those we don’t know, we, especially younger people need to be able to socialise and be communicative with each other. In this extract Basil is the hero until the mask holding the elastic snaps and people realise that he is a bear and are then afraid.

The story is available from Amazon in ebook or printed form. This is the .co.uk link, https://www.amazon.co.uk/Brown-Bears-Big-Day-Adventures/dp/1980868859/, and this is .com, https://www.amazon.com/Brown-Bears-Big-Day-Out-ebook/dp/B086DSF5N7/.

Blank cards (card image below story illustration) and a pdf of the story are available from out website, https://www.junagarhmedia.co.uk/.

So here’s the extract.

Everybody was glad that the little girl was safe and they all shouted, laughed and congratulated Basil, the hero of the day. People talked amongst themselves, “wasn’t he somebody famous?” He certainly looked familiar to many of the people there. It was only that nose, it did not seem quite right for the person that they thought it was. Hundreds of cameras and phones clicked as everyone wanted to take Basil’s photograph.

Suddenly there was a small ping sound as the elastic holding Basil’s facemask broke. Silence spread through the crowd, followed by panic, as everyone realised that Basil was a bear and they took a few steps backwards. Some people then screamed and started to move away but slowly just in case Basil chased them.

We are now selling in our Etsy shop a set of blank greeting cards of the cover artwork of the book, https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/JunagarhMedia. Great for birthdays or other party invitations. Larger numbers available.