The Salmon Bears
October 28, 2010
The Salmon Bears: Giants of the Great Bear Rainforest
by Ian McAllister and Nicholas Read
Photographs by Ian McAllister
Orca Book Publishers, 2010
96 pages
This good book from a Canadian independent press follows grizzlies, black bears, and spirit bears (an all-white mutation of black bears) through four seasons in British Columbia's Great Bear Rainforest. Highlights include full-page color photographs, many pull-out facts about the big mammals, and a strong case for preserving a remarkable stretch of wilderness. Source notes and a longer list for further reading would have been helpful for kids (fourth graders and older) who want to learn more.
While the focus is on the animals and their environment (rather than on the humans working to preserve them), The Salmon Bears will appeal to fans of Houghton Mifflin's Scientists in the Field books, not to mention National Geographic's Face to Face with Animals series. The creative team was also responsible for The Sea Wolves—Living Wild in the Great Bear Rainforest.
Salmon Bears was nominated for a Cybil award in the middle grade/young adult nonfiction category. Readers can preview the book at www.salmonbears.com.
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