“Be confident in who you are, celebrate diversity and love yourself deeply.”
Ursula Bear quite literally grew out of a patch of wild garlic in my garden whilst I was picking wild garlic one day. I wanted to double check that what I had picked was edible, and that I wasn’t going to poison myself (highly recommended) and so I found a reliable source, which confirmed that I was ok to eat this yummy vegetable snack. I also found out that the Latin name for wild garlic is Allium ursinum, which literally translates as bear’s garlic and that the Latin name for bear is Ursa.
Because there is no containing my imagination, Ursula Bear appeared as real as life, right there in my mind, dancing around in a garlic patch with a huge bag. I knew immediately that Ursula would be a quirky bear, that she would be playful, confident and unique.
I hope Ursula is an inspiration to children and adults alike, to be confident in who you are, to celebrate diversity and love yourself deeply. My message to children is to be more you, unless you’re a bear, then be more Ursula! I also wanted the book to be educational, and I really enjoyed weaving some fun facts about bears into the rhyming text.