Walliams' fifth picture book Boogie Bear coming next month

David Walliams has revealed his fifth picture book with illustrator Tony Ross will be called Boogie Bear.

Set to hit shelves on 16th November, the story embraces difference and celebrates friendship, publisher HarperCollins Children's Books said, as it follows a polar bear who finds herself unexpectedly drifting far from home and stumbling across some “unfriendly company”.

The book will be released after Walliams’ 10th book Bad Dad on 2nd November, a “heart-warming rags to riches story” about a boy who tries to break his dad out of prison.

Executive publisher Ann-Janine Murtagh at HarperCollins Children’s Books said: “In Boogie Bear, Walliams and Ross come together again in a joyful collaboration full of fun, but with a strong heart and message of understanding and tolerance.”

David Walliams, meanwhile, said the title was his and Ross’s “best picture book together”.

“I can’t wait for all our young fans to read it,” he added.

Ross added: “Working on a Walliams book is always a pleasure, good stories give an illustrator a head start, the fun is in the story, all I have to do is draw lines around the words. Although it is sometimes difficult to draw and laugh at the same time.”

Walliams’ and Ross’s other picture books include The Slightly Annoying Elephant, The First Hippo on the Moon and The Bear Who Went Boo! Altogether their picture books have sold around 485,000 copies through Nielsen BookScan with The Queen’s Orang-u-Tan his bestseller, with 82,246 copies sold.