School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 3-After a cub's mother leaves him to fend for himself, he ventures away from his forest home and close to neighborhoods and people. While the young bear is initially fearful of humans, he soon realizes that tasty items await him in backyards. One autumn afternoon, a family contacts the game warden, and the animal is soon safely trapped and returned to the forest, where he can continue his life as a wild bear. An author's note offers details about black bears and ideas for keeping backyards less tempting. A good read-aloud for the kindergarten crew, Rockwell's text is simple and straightforward enough for beginning readers. The pen-and-ink and watercolor illustrations on toned paper are lovely. This combination of fiction and fact is most appealing.-Andrea Tarr, Corona Public Library, CA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
The team's latest collaboration summarizes habitat encroachment and animal relocation for the youngest readers through the story of one small black bear, from his birth to his learning to survive in the wild. When he emerges in the spring, his forest is a changed place. Scared of the new houses at first, he soon discovers that yards are fertile hunting grounds. But when a mother and child spot him, game wardens arrive, trap him and take him to a new forest. Rockwell sweetly introduces readers to the life of a bear: what they eat, how they communicate, what they might be feeling. Young readers will find nothing scary here; the dangers to humans are not enumerated, nor are the problems with relocating bears addressed. An author's note tells more about black bears, their increasingly frequent sightings and how to keep them out of yards. Halsey uses soft, natural colors of watercolor and ink on tan background paper to evoke a woodsy feel. Her teddy bear-ish depiction of the bears perfectly suits the mood of the text. A good springboard to further research and discussions of habitat loss and animal relocation efforts. (Picture book/nonfiction. 4-8) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
In a story that would comfortably fit in both picture-book and easy nonfiction collections, a mother bear enters a cave in the woods and gives birth to a cub. When spring comes, the bears pass the seasons in the wild until it's time to hibernate. Upon emerging from their cave the next spring, however, they find that the woods have given way to a housing development. When the cub is spotted rummaging through the garbage near one of the houses, the game warden comes to relocate the cub far away from the new houses to a place where bears could roam. A short author's note explains the plight of bears in populated areas and gives a few suggestions to keep bears away. With cartoon-style figures in uncluttered settings, the pen-and-ink and muted watercolor illustrations, set against pale orange backgrounds, complement the simplicity of the text, making the story and the conservation message it conveys accessible to very young audiences. --Randall Enos Copyright 2006 Booklist
