A Boy and A Bear in a Boat by Dave Shelton

So I’m not quite sure how we went from bears mauling people to teddy bears and anthropomorphic bears who wear boots or hang around with that Christopher Robin kid. They are ferocious wild animals that really just want to be left alone, to roam through the wild and eat fish and have bear sex. (Or.happy drawing! Here's Dave Shelton's instructions for drawing a boy and a bear in a boat.There’s a boy, and a bear, and they are on a boat. But do come back to follow the discussion and contribute live on the night if you can, too. You can post your comments and get the discussion going straight away. If you have any other questions or talking points about A Boy and a Bear in a Boat, please add them in the comments below for everyone to consider on the night.

You can also get involved on Twitter, using #NCGkids – tweeted comments will be fed back into the discussion here and at the Crow's Nest. I'll be at the Crow's Nest in London on Thursday 8 August from 6.30pm, reporting back live on the face-to-face discussion in the comments thread below and feeding in your comments online to the group there. In his Guardian review, Philip Ardagh says that 'To an adult reader, the title A Boy and a Bear in a Boat instantly brings to mind Yann Martel's Life of Pi, with its boy in a boat with a tiger, and Moacyr Scliar's Max and the Cats, with a Jewish refugee in a boat with a jaguar.' Do these kinds of comparisons work (and are they even fair)?

What 'kind' of book is it – an allegory or something else? Did we find it funny (and, as adult readers, are we supposed to)? It's an illustrated book so once again we'll be considering what the illustrations add to the story. David Fickling's gentle editorial hand ensured I never quite lost my balance.' Do you agree?

On winning the award, Shelton commented that 'I had genuine doubts as to whether I would fall flat on my face. Given that, the role of the editor in the publishing process might well crop up in the discussion.

It's another book that has enjoyed critical acclaim – it was longlisted for last year's Guardian children's fiction prize and last month it scooped the Branford Boase award for Shelton and his editor, David Fickling.

A Boy and A Bear in a Boat by Dave Shelton