Elsie - Old Bear - Story Snug

Meet Jane Hissey’s new character, Elsie the Elephant!

Old Bear is celebrating his 30th birthday this year and Story Snug would like to wish him many happy returns! We’d also like to send our congratulations to Jane Hissey for creating so many loveable, memorable characters and for writing such wonderfully humorous and entertaining stories.

Today we are absolutely delighted to introduce you to Jane’s brand new character who joins the playroom friends to help celebrate Old Bear’s birthday.

Meet Elsie the Elephant!

Elsie - Old Bear - Story Snug

Elsie’s special birthday present for Old Bear gets her into a bit of trouble in Jane’s newest book, ‘Happy Birthday Old Bear’, which will be published on September 28th.

We love the cover picture showing Elsie standing on Old Bear’s knee 🙂

Happy Birthday Old Bear - Story Snug

Happy 30th Birthday Old Bear! Thank you to you and your friends for giving us so much entertainment over the years.

Jane Hissey - Story Snug

About Jane

Jane’s first picture book, ‘Old Bear’ was published in 1986. Since then, Jane has written and illustrated over 20 picture books, each one taking a year to illustrate.

Illustrated using coloured pencils, Jane’s books feature soft-toy characters and everyday objects that belong to her or her family. ‘Old Bear’ himself was given to her by her grandmother when she was born. He has travelled with Jane throughout the world and visited schools, libraries and literary events.

The 40 episode television series of ‘Old Bear Stories’ won many international awards including a BAFTA and a NY Film Festival Gold Award.

Jane has three grown-up children and lives with her husband, Ivan, who is also an illustrator.

Jane’s Website / Twitter / Facebook

My favourite Old Bear characters are Little Bear and Rabbit and my daughter loves Hoot and Jolly Tall. Do you have a favourite character from Jane Hissey’s stories?


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8 responses to “Meet Jane Hissey’s new character, Elsie the Elephant!”


  1. suz avatar

    My daughter loved Old Bear when she was young.
    The illustrations are superb.
    Great news about the new book. One for the grandchildren for sure.


    1. Catherine avatar

      I love Jane Hissey’s illustrations, they’re what drew me to her books in the first place (and the fact that they were about teddy bears!).


  2. Sarah Doyle - let them be small avatar

    I remember my brother adored the Old Bear books when he was little – his fave was Jolly Tall. Such good fun.
    #readwithme


    1. Catherine avatar

      I love the story when Jolly Tall arrives in the playroom 🙂


  3. Chantelle Hazelden avatar

    Aaaaa so cute, didn’t realise Old Bear was quite that old. Thanks for sharing with #ReadWithMe


    1. Catherine avatar

      The first Old Bear stories were published when I did my teaching degree. Little Bear’s Trousers was a real favourite with my first class 🙂


  4. Acorn Books avatar

    I loved the Old Bear stories so much when I was little. Little Bear was my favourite and I remember loving the part in Little Bear’s Trousers when they use his trousers ro pipe icing!


    1. Catherine avatar

      Little Bear’s Trousers was the first Old Bear story I read and I’ve loved Little Bear ever since 🙂 I love Rabbit using the trousers as a ski hat!