Bears

This book was given to us as a gift and my six children(ages 2-13) were immediately captivated by its cover alone! This "loaded" books contains anything and everything you ever wanted to know about bears and brings them to life through beautiful and often breathtaking pictures. While this book is intended for the 9-12 year old crowd, I quickly discovered that all the children love it and glean what they are interested in from it at their various educational levels. Its easy-to-use format of short paragraphs, catchy headlines, and an index lends itself to self-exploration. As we homeschool our children, I quickly discovered that this book works out wonderfully as a complete science study of bears and would lend itself to doing a unit study incorporating other subjects. If you are a homeschooler, your family might enjoy turning to page 63 to discover how bears learn. I highly recommend this book and believe any reader will be just as delighted as we are with this book. My thanks goes to a loving aunt who thought of our family when she heard about this book...thanks for the gift, Aunt Jo!

Reviewed by Harry Reynolds, AK Dept of Fish and Game International Bear News, Feb 2001, p. 33This book well fulfills its purpose to arouse the interest of readers, ages 9 to 16 years, about what makes bears unique. Based on very good questions about bear biology from young readers, it presents interesting and accurate information on each of the eight bear species. The questions, heavily illustrated with photos, are separated into eight subject groups: Great Bears, How Bears Live, The Bear's Body, the Bear's Senses, Eating Habits, Bear Reproduction, Self-Defense, and Bears and People.In the Great Bears chapter, questions include: How many different kinds of bears are there? Which species is the largest and the smallest? How do scientists classify bears? The How Bears Live chapter, answers Where in the world do bears live? with text and a range map. Which bear is most common? is answered in numerical and distributional terms - the responses are designed to help students think critically. The Bears and People chapter dealt mostly with conservation and research. Its brief treatment of bear attacks was probably purposeful. However, because it is the most common fear of humans in bear country, it could have been more fully addressed. The simple and straightforward questions are answered with enough detail to interest, not bore readers and provide a good understanding of bear biology and conservation issues. Most books like this suffer from inadequate or misinterpreted information - this one does not. This is an excellent book for youth, and most adults would learn from it as well.

Easy to read for the age group it is intended. But also informative for all ages. Most of us who have grown up playing with a "Teddy" want to know more, especially about the not so common bears. Good pictures and illustrations.