An essential bear for older readers | Books

I’m a little late to the table, I know (I’ve been walking in the woods while my porridge was cooling), but I just wanted to make a small addition to readers’ reflections on the fictional bears that have won their hearts (Letters, 23 October). When I was a youngster, neither Winnie-the-Pooh nor Paddington Bear held that much appeal to me, but in my 40s I fell in love with a “deeply human sax-playing bear”.

I’m referring to the hero of Rafi Zabor’s The Bear Comes Home. It’s a book about (among other things) music and improvisation, love, spiritual exploration and the hope of transcendence. It is most definitely not a book for children, but it is an overlooked gem. This bear should be introduced to more people.

Phil Dawson

Beeston, Nottinghamshire