Category Archives: bear

Fighting For Your Life, Man-eater Bears by Tom Hron

Dear Cousin Johnny,

Thank you for giving me this book to read.  I now know that if things really go poorly I should attempt to punch a black bear that is trying to eat me (or my friend/family member) in the nose.  Since I’m hoping it won’t come to that I’m now considering getting a larger dog, baseball bat, machete and stun gun to bring with me in the woods – just in case- oh and I promise not to forget my binoculars. Also after learning that grizzly bears enjoy flattening and shredding nylon tents I may never go camping much less hiking in certain areas again. My Dad painted a vivid enough picture of polar bears for me that I wasn’t planning on spending my vacation with one anytime soon but just in case his stories were fading in memory I now have some new ones to reinforce them with.

Thank you as well for the nightmare this book gave me. I had accidentally fallen asleep in Clara’s bed and that got me right back up and into my own bed. You know, the one with my husband who has a longer reach than me and would be better at beating a bear with a bat or punching it in the nose than I would.  And I certainly can’t forget to thank you for introducing me to a huge amount of graphic, horrific, descriptions of people who were eaten alive by bears. I shall never forget what a bear can do, ever… even if I want to.

Finally thank you for giving me a book to read that made me laugh. Because if I’m going to read about graphic bear deaths I do truly prefer it to be with a good dose of sarcasm and contempt for those who ignore “traditional knowledge and wisdom”…  “for the sake of computer modeling by a bunch of pinheads who have never set foot on the pack ice.”

In Gratitude,

Jessie

Would I recommend it? Bears: They don’t just eat nuts and berries, sometimes they eat people.  There was quite a lot of useful and interesting information but it is certainly not for the faint of heart!

Good Night, Baby Bear by Frank Asch

As I read one of our new library books out loud today I had the feeling I had made a mistake in bringing it home from the library.

Not because I’d already read 37 books out loud today. Often a problem.
Not because it was a poorly written story. Sometimes I hate the books we bring home.  I try and sneak those ones back in the library bag when no one is looking.
Not because it was too scary for Ivy. She gets scared in a full body shaking sort of way, even when little lambs get lost in the snow.
Nope none of those normal occurrences, it was because I was afraid it would give her… ideas.

In this seemingly innocent book Baby Bear and Mother Bear are getting ready to hibernate for the winter. Having never slept in a cave before Baby Bear needs some help going to sleep. He needs: a snack, something to drink and then, the moon.

(I bet you already know the “ideas” Ivy had at bedtime tonight.)

The book is good, when Baby Bear asks for the moon and Mother Bear says “You need what?” It was like the book was written from a conversation between Ivy and I.

The real kicker was at the end. Baby Bear needs one more thing: “‘What now?’ grumbled Mother bear” … …and he of course needs a kiss.

Awww how sweet.

OK, Now that we are done feeling all cute let’s replay a conversation that Ivy and I had today.

While I try to be exact in my replications of our conversations this one may be a little off. Thats because we have a variation of this conversation ALL THE TIME.

Ivy: Mom!
Me: What?
Ivy: What are we havin’ for lunch?
Me: Noodles with green sauce.
Ivy: Mom!
Me: What?
Ivy: Is there goin’ to be shakin’ cheese?
Me: If you get it out of the fridge.
Ivy: MOM!
Me: What?
Ivy: I don’t know how.
Me: Well no cheese for you then.
Ivy: Oh I can get it.
Ivy: Mom!
Me: WHAT?
Ivy: I wuv you mom.

Aww, isn’t she sweet.

Except I’m certain she knows she’s pushed me to the brink and then is saving herself from being put up for adoption every time she does it!

Then of course when she headed up to bed a mischievous glint lit up her eye and she needed, a snack (You already had one.), a drink (Here is your water.), the moon (Sorry, new moon was on Tuesday and it’s cloudy, no moon tonight.)

I’m pretty sure I spoiled the game with a refusal to get her a moon so I was never asked for a kiss. I’m not worried though, tomorrow just when I’m ready to put her on Craig s list, she’ll “wuv” me.

Would I recommend it? Yes. I’m just not sure you should read it to your kids!

Bubble Gum, Bubble Gum by Lisa Wheeler and Laura Huliska-Beith

Where is a good editor when you need one?  Truthfully I’m not exactly sure what an editor does but with a very small amount of changes this would go from a great book to an excellent one.

-Toads are not green, this looks like a frog to me. And every kid I’ve ever known thinks that  green= frog, brown=toad, why mess with that?

-Bees do not have stinger noses, I dislike improper anatomy on animals (or bugs) for no good reason. Cowboy boots, fine but get that stinger on the other end.

-And finally, if the books follows the same rhyming pattern the whole way through why do you mess it up on the last page?!?!

road-toad

goo-shrew

loose-goose

free-bee

go-crow

stuck-truck

air -bear

stuck-hen — WHAT?!!?

Those problems aside this book has a great chanty, jaunty, rhymey, rhythmy, flow to it (that’s a technical term).

I like the pictures (other than above mentioned problems) and Ivy likes it enough we’ve been reading it multiple times in a row.

So even with the above problems…

Would I recommend it? Yes, unless you are one who reads books in a flat monotone, this requires that chanty, jaunty, rhymey, rhythm in order to be great.

The Bear Dance by Chris Riddell

This is my currently my favorite picture book.  I found it in the library last year and we have checked it out many times since then.   I love this book so much I’m not even sure what to say about it.  I do know that it is currently out of print,  a little googling has taught me that Riddell has many other books but I have not yet read any of them.

In this book Katya lives in a forest where it is always summer with her friend Brown (he’s the bear).

Then one day she wakes up to snow. This is Johns favorite picture: I love the illustrations. Katya discovers Jack Frost is in her forest, and this part where she confronts him has made me cry a dozen times.  Either I am completely ridiculous or it’s a really, really good book.

Would I recommend it? Yes!

Stella, Fairy of the Forest by Marie-Louise Gay

Ivy in her best Reading Rainbow pose!

First off I will say that the illustrations in this book are really wonderful, I love the soft colors and all the detail. Ivy likes the book and I think it’s mostly because she likes to find all the hidden animals and bugs in the pictures.

There I said something nice, now lets talk about the text. There is nothing wrong with it exactly, just that yellow butterflies don’t eat butter, blue butterflies don’t eat sky, and please don’t make me accidentally read a book to my girl that says little snakes only swallow little people and that sheep are scary. Granted, Stella is trying to reassure her younger brother who is apprehensive about sheep and snakes but Ivy and I still had to have a talk about how sheep were nice and snakes are cool, and that butterflies drink nectar from flowers.  I also think this book has poor word flow.  Add to that two kids named Stella and Sam and the combination creates something that is both challenging to read out loud (almost a tongue twister) and that misses the lyrical quality that many books have when spoken.

The back flap says that “Marie-Louise Gay is one of Canada’s leading children’s book author-illustrators.” and that her first two books about Stella “…have been sold in more than ten countries.”  This lead me to wonder if I’m just a grump about books sometimes but in quick online search I found a few people who said that the first two were much better than this one. Maybe so but I hope the publisher spared the eight other countries!

Would I recommend it? Nope. I’d love to know if anyone has read her other books and liked them.