Bears Barge In

The story is about a forest full of wild animals, and a boy, who, “unlike the animals, Zack was quite tame”! In the typical sequence of events, people encroach on the wildlife’s habitat, but in an atypical twist, the animals revolt and encroach on the humans’ habitats–by moving in with Zack! His new neighbors are so distressed by this turn of events (“No bears allowed! They’ll eat our kids! They’ll eat our poodles for a snack! We’re sure to have a bear attack!”) that they move behind a giant fence and lock themselves away from their new fearsome neighbors. Zack , however, “stayed outside to watch and wait.” After time passed, and there was more room for the animals in their natural habitat, they eventually moved out of Zack’s house back into the forest. And even though the neighbors saw that “No bears ate Zack. Zack ate no bears. He lived his life, and they lived theirs,” they were still afraid of the “faint howls at night” and “wild eyes reflecting light.” But when they offer him shelter inside where it’s safe, “No thanks,” Zack said. “I’d rather stay out here instead,” because the forest is such a nice place to be.

While it is written for younger children (4-8 years), it is really in a class with many environmental education classics as an ageless work. I have used it every week since I have had it with my 5th and 6th grade students, and they unanimously love it! Here are some of their comments:
“ The author should write more stories about nature so people can learn to treat animals respectfully” (Marina); “It was well-written and interesting. Treat animals the way you would like to be treated” (Daniel); “It is really for people of all ages” (Melissa); “We really enjoyed the rhymes” (all); “Good, child-like drawings” (Becky); “Makes you think about animals” (Reggie); “It is nice because it deals with the problems of bears” (Jennifer); “What’s the website?” (Destiny)

The only criticism of the book was that it seems to end too soon–it needs one more page of Chris Bivens’ great illustration to go with the last page of “tips.” I would like to see Zack and his friends walking away through the woods with the animals watching from their hiding places to give it a more finished feeling. I used the story as a follow up to a day of learning about wildlife adaptations and habitat as part of a lesson to help keep wildlife wild., I followed the story by showing the students a sample of bear scat with plastic trash in it, along with some teeth and claws of a bear that had to be killed when it became habituated to human food. For other ideas, you can get a free teachers’ guide to go with the book that has some great wildlife information.

This book is not only a great tool to help students overcome their fears of wildlife and understand wildlife’s need for habitat – “Most animals that visit simply need a little space. We can all be good neighbors if we leave them a wild place” – but it “puts its money where its mouth is”: a portion of the proceeds from the book are donated to the Nature Conservancy!

For more information or to order, go to http://www.DreamFactoryBooks.com or call 877-377-7030.