Sami the Magic Bear

Awards and Reviews: BLUEINK: handles a complex subject professionally and gracefully, Any child facing an illness might appreciate but particularly any child struck by leukemia.

2017 READERS' FAVORITE International Children's Book Award Finalist

Reviewed by Emily-Jane Hills Orford for Readers' Favorite

Laurie is a very active little girl. She loves school, but she has to keep busy all the time or she starts to fidget. She loves playing soccer and she’s even the captain of her soccer team. So when Laurie suddenly lacks energy and her cheeks lose their rosy glow, her parents are understandably worried. They take her to see the family doctor and he runs a bunch of tests. The results are not happy news. Laurie has leukemia. She has to be hospitalized immediately and the only visitors allowed are her parents and they have to be thoroughly sanitized and gowned before they can visit her. Laurie becomes very despondent and sad. When her class sends her a big card with lots of messages and a special Sami Bear to keep her company, things start to improve and, with Sami Bear’s help, Laurie is determined to fight her battle with leukemia.

It is difficult for children being sick; it is also difficult for children watching other children who are sick. Any child who has had a friend fighting a life-threatening disease like leukemia knows just how difficult it is. Children aren’t supposed to get sick; they’re not supposed to die. But it does happen, sadly. Murielle Bourdon’s picture book story, Sami the Magic Bear: A Trip to the Hospital!, book 3 in the Sami the Magic Bear series, is an informative and helpful story for both children who are very sick and their friends who wait for them to get healthy again. The story is told simply, but with compassion and just enough information for a child to understand the seriousness of an illness like leukemia. Sami the Magic Bear is off on another very important mission and his presence and importance in the lives of the children he touches is significant. Well done!