Lisa Shanahan: Do we have any more questions? Oh, would you like to …

Student: Who do you like best, Bear or Chook? And tell us why.

Emma Quay: I might go first with this one.

Lisa: Okay.

Emma: Who do we like best, Bear or Chook? Now, I really love both of them and when you’re working on a book for this long and two books in fact, you really feel you know the characters, you feel like they’re real. I feel like I know everything about them. And I love Bear’s bounding enthusiasm, he’s really enthusiastic and has lots of ideas. And if Bear didn’t have those ideas I think Chook would never do anything. I think he’d stay home. But while I was illustrating the first book ‘Bear and Chook’ I became very fond of Chook because he always comes out the rather worse for wear when they go out for adventures. Doesn’t he? He always ends up on the bottom getting squashed, all sorts of things like that. And when I was deciding how I would draw him I wanted to make kids feel about him the way I feel about him and I want him to be really appealing but not cute. I didn’t want some cute little fluffy chicken. So, I drew him a little bit ugly. Okay. Ugly but loveable. So, I hope that when you read about Chook you feel about him the way I feel about him.

Lisa: Now, I’m going to tell you a secret because to be honest when I first wrote the first book ‘Bear and Chook’, I have to say that I think I might have loved Bear a little bit more. I know it’s terrible but it certainly has changed. But I think I did love Bear a little bit more at first because I just thought he was so brave the way he kept going on his adventures and every time things didn’t work out he didn’t get you know sad about that he’d think ‘Well, I’m going to try a different adventure.’ And I really liked the way he could bounce back and be happy and positive and hopeful. And I can remember thinking ‘Oh, Chook why are you so not brave? Why don’t you have a little bit more courage?’ And the funny thing is though when I wrote the second book ‘Bear & Chook by the Sea’ I think I really began to love Chook in a new way. And I saw I think the way Chook really was so loyal. You know every time Chook had to go on an adventure with Bear it was life endangering, his life could be almost ended because Bear was so enthusiastic. And I thought to myself that shows very lovely, true qualities of a friend. And in that moment I think I really discovered that I found you know Chook to be someone who was very admirable. And so by the end of ‘Bear & Chook by the Sea’ especially I guess when you know Chook overcomes his great fear about going to the sea and then he’s able to lead Bear all the way back I felt that I’d come to love Chook just as much as Bear. And now I couldn’t really choose between them because I love them both so much.

Emma: Shall we check with them? Now, who of you likes Bear best? Ooh, is it about half? And hands down. And who likes Chook best? A few. And hands down. Who can’t decide? That’s okay, that’s okay. That’s interesting, so it really is about half and half.

Lisa: Yes.

Emma: And that’s the way we feel.

Lisa: And I think sometimes people you know they think of themselves as being either a Bear or a Chook sometimes they say ‘I’m much more like a Bear.’ And someone will say ‘No, I feel I’m a lot more like a Chook.’ And I think that’s quite lovely too.

Emma: Lots of people can be a bit of both.

Lisa: That’s exactly right.