Eat Like a Bear

Starred review from August 19, 2013
Sayre and Jenkins follow Vulture View (2007) with a similarly excellent study of brown bears that’s in equal parts poetic and enlightening. Clipped, second-person verse lets readers imagine themselves as bears that have just awoken from a winter’s hibernation. “Can you eat like a bear?” Sayre asks as the book opens. “Awake in April. Find food./ But where?” Repeated throughout as the months pass, the “find food” line reads like a mantra, underlining how much of a bear’s life is dedicating to acquiring food to sustain itself, not always an easy task (an elk calf proves too fast to catch). An extensive appendix—about bears’ eating habits, hibernation, and interactions with humans—explains that brown bears are omnivorous, and the book bears that out (no pun intended). In May, the brown bear “Chomp parsnip stems” and dandelions, while later months have him eating ants, trout, roots, and an unlucky ground squirrel (“Grab and crunch/ a meaty lunch”). Jenkins’s torn-paper collages are typically exquisite in their naturalistic detail; the bark paper he uses for the bear is especially well-suited to capturing its grizzled, hulking furriness. Ages 4–8.

Starred review from September 1, 2013
With a subject not quite as underappreciated as their previous book's (Vulture View, 2007) but giving it just as stunning treatment, Sayre and Jenkins follow a bear's eating habits throughout the year. A grizzled, lumbering bear wakes up in the springtime. What is there to eat? The bear sniffs the air. Crunches a few dandelions. Pause. "With long, strong claws, / dig in. Dig down. / Paw and claw and pull. / Find ... // ... ants! / Chew them, / sour and squirming. / Lick your lips." As the months go by, bears eat many different types of food. Often thought to be powerful, top-of-the-food-chain predators, bears find that delicate berries and pine cones are tasty treats too. Sayre does not shy away from the carnivorous meals, but gruesome details happen off the page. Jenkins creates incredible scenery full of majestic mountains, crisp streams and a sublimely textured bear. (The bear's fuzzy coat is created with handmade fig-bark paper--a fruit, which given the opportunity, a bear would likely love to munch!) Key food-finding action words such as drink, search, forage, hunt, gather and eat lead up to perhaps the most important one of all: prepare. The bear, full from months of feasting, settles down into a warm, cozy den. Inquisitive, informed and lyrical; an intriguing extension to hibernation classics. (appended facts, author's note) (Informational picture book. 4-8)

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October 1, 2013

PreS-Gr 3-Posing the question, "Can you eat like a bear?" this book follows a brown bear as it forages for food throughout the year. Emerging from hibernation in April, the animal sets out on its quest. Each month provides a different delicacy: crispy roots and a ground squirrel in July, juicy huckleberries in September, a stash of pinecones in October. All serve to fatten up the omnivorous creature as it prepares once again for hibernation. The short text is set in a clear, large font and that, coupled with the big, full-color, cut- and torn-paper collage illustrations, makes it a natural for sharing with a group. The mammals themselves are rendered by using handmade Mexican bark paper. Its rough nature gives them greater impact and dimension on the pages. The extensive end notes provide details about the diet of the brown bear, or Ursus artos, its threatened status, and current scientific studies. This additional information increases the usefulness of the title, making it a viable classroom and research tool. That, along with the beautiful art, makes this a first choice for most libraries.-Sara-Jo Lupo Sites, George F. Johnson Memorial Library, Endicott, NY

Copyright 2013 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 1, 2013
Preschool-G A grizzly bear emerges from hibernation and starts to eat. Month by month she drinks, digs, scratches, hunts, fishes, and forages, fueling up in anticipation of another winter. Come November she returns to her den, ready for the next seasonal sleep, with a couple of cubs joining her. Sayre tells the simple tale in colorful free verse in careful patterns, rich with vocabulary: Find . . . / . . . a squirrel's pinecone stash. / Nibble, shred, crunch and smash. Jenkins fixes the action in the Rocky Mountains with his trademark cut- and torn-paper collage. Using a variety of materials, including handmade Mexican bark paper for the bears, he achieves a remarkable variety of line and texture, as crisp leaves and flowers contrast with fuzzy fur. This contrast is mirrored in the juxtaposition of expressive narration and careful pictorial depiction. An appended assortment of notes offers substantive information about the bears, their habitats, behaviors, and study.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)

November 1, 2013
Sayre invites readers to imagine themselves as a brown bear in the American West, foraging for food month by month over the course of a year. As an omnivore, the bear eats everything from plants and insects to large game as each becomes available. In a comfortingly repetitive, cadenced text ( Can you hunt like a bear? / It's June. Find food. / But where? ) placed on richly illustrated double-page spreads, direct questions ask readers not only if they can eat but also search, gather, climb, and even bathe like a bear, showing how each of these actions supports the bear's, and eventually her cubs', growth and survival. (More sensitive topics, like mating and killing, are addressed indirectly.) Jenkins's torn-paper illustrations are reproduced with such clarity that one can almost grasp the thick, fuzzy fur of the bear, as well as see themselves in her expressive eyes. Additional information about brown bears, scientists, and conservation efforts can be found in the closing pages. danielle j. ford

(Copyright 2013 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

January 1, 2014
In a comfortingly repetitive, cadenced text ("Can you hunt like a bear? / It's June. Find food. / But where?"), direct questions ask readers not only if they can eat but also search, gather, climb, and even bathe like a brown bear. Jenkins's torn-paper illustrations are reproduced with such clarity that one can almost grasp the thick, fuzzy fur of the bear.

(Copyright 2014 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)