Face to Face with Grizzlies (Face to Face with Animals) [Library Binding]

Joel Sartore (Author, Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 7 and up | Grade Level: 2 and up | Series: Face to Face with Animals

Ever been face-to-face with a grizzly bear? Joel Sartore has—and he lived to tell this and other great tales in Face to Face with Grizzlies. Through stunning photography and engaging storytelling, this National Geographic expert takes you into the bears' world. Witness a mother bear charge a human intruder. Watch male bears battle. Find out the grizzly's idea of a fast-food take-out.

Joel Sartore invites young readers to coexist with this fearsome bear. With practical "how-to" sidebars, he shares secrets of photographing the bears in the field, tells how to find out more about their plight, and shows how we can all help in their fight for survival. Along with his vast experience and knowledge, Joel Sartore's contagious passion for the grizzly shines through every page of this fascinating book.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

A color photograph of a lunging brown bear, its huge, gaping mouth poised to bite, is the heart-pounding start to this entry in the new Face to Face with Animals series. In accessible, exciting language, Sartore, a National Geographic photographer, describes his close encounters with bears while on assignment. In later chapters, he matches stunning photographs of bears playing, fighting, eating, and chasing prey (all show beautifully on the book's thick, glossy paper) with basic information about bears' bodies, habitats, and behavior. A final chapter looks at environmental and human factors that endanger bears, and an appended section introduces animal conservation ideas. An extensive facts-at-a-glance spread, well-rounded resource lists, and tips for aspiring wildlife photographers complete this handsome, oversize volume, which will draw young researchers and browsers alike. Gillian Engberg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

About the Author

Joel Sartore is an acclaimed nature photographer and his 20 years in the field include 14 with the National Geographic Society. His assignments have taken him everywhere from the Amazon rain forests to Alaska to Yellowstone Park.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 7 and up
  
• Library Binding: 32 pages
• Publisher: National Geographic Children's Books; Library ed edition (May 8, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1426300514
• ISBN-13: 978-1426300516
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 0.4 x 10.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,978,974 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Joel Sartore is a photographer, speaker, author, teacher, and a 20-year contributor to National Geographic magazine. His hallmarks are a sense of humor and a Midwestern work ethic.

Joel's assignments have taken him to every continent and to the world's most beautiful and challenging environments, from the High Arctic to the Antarctic.

Simply put, Joel is on a mission to document endangered species and landscapes in order to show a world worth saving.

His interest in nature started in childhood, when he learned about the very last passenger pigeon from one of his mother's Time-Life picture books. He has since been chased by a wide variety of species including wolves, grizzlies, musk oxen, lions, elephants and polar bears.

His first National Geographic assignments introduced him to nature photography, and also allowed him to see human impact on the environment first-hand.

In his words, "It is folly to think that we can destroy one species and ecosystem after another and not affect humanity. When we save species, we're actually saving ourselves."

In addition to the work he has done for National Geographic, Joel has contributed to Audubon Magazine, Geo, Time, Life, Newsweek, Sports Illustrated and numerous book projects. Joel and his work have been the subjects of several national broadcasts including National Geographic's Explorer, the NBC Nightly News, NPR's Weekend Edition and an hour-long PBS documentary, At Close Range. He is also a contributor on the CBS Sunday Morning Show with Charles Osgood.

Joel is always happy to return from his travels around the world to his home in Lincoln, Nebraska where he lives with his wife Kathy and their three children.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Stunning Photography with an Upper Grade/Middle School Text, March 9, 2008

By 

Fritz R. Ward "dayhiker" (Crestline, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Face to Face with Grizzlies (Face to Face with Animals) (Hardcover)

So your kids need to do their first "research" paper on some animal and they select Grizzly Bears. (Perhaps the topic was selected for them.) In any event, this is a good, kid friendly source for your little monsters and you will enjoy the stunning photography. The author, Joel Sartore, is a National Geographic photographer and it shows in the pages of this book. The opening pages include his description of being charged by a sow with two cubs and it is sure to grab the kids' attention, even as the picture gets yours. I can add from experience that being charged by a Grizzly sow is not something you will forget soon. Sartore's description is quite accurate.

The book is relatively short with large text lettering. It includes an appendix with helpful bear facts and ways you can help the bears ("Let your parents know you care about bears...") and some advice for how to deal with bear encounters. For the most part, I found this advice reasonable, but there was one mistake. Sartore recommends hanging food "between trees at campsites." Actually, you would be well served to hang the food some distance away from the camp. Better yet, get a bear-proof storage container, the Garcia Bear Can is the most common, and put it a good 150 yards or so from camp.

On the whole, this is a good children's book on the Grizzly Bear, an animal of almost mythic proportions in the West. Get it for your kids, and enjoy the photography yourself.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Teenager's loved it, February 5, 2010

By 

Carol C. Moreland "Postal GG" (Wichita, KS, US) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Face to Face with Grizzlies (Face to Face with Animals) (Paperback)

Face to Face with Grizzlies, Face to Face with Polar Bears, and Little Polar Bears was purchased as a "Special Christmas Present" for my three teenage grand kids. They get an annual subscription to National Geographic KIDS. These seemed like they would fit into that category. Instead of the usual "Thank You Card", they each had to call and thank me for the "wonderful books", said a card would take to long to reach me. They were already planning who would take which book to school and share with their teachers and friends.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This face to face book with the endangered grizzly bear is a WOW experience!, July 18, 2009

By 

D. Fowler "Dragonfly77" (Vermont) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Face to Face with Grizzlies (Face to Face with Animals) (Paperback)

Grizzly bears are fairly tolerant of people, but as a rule most people don't care to have them roaming in and around their neighborhoods and yards. There are, however, some people who are referred to as "bear paparazzi" who are nuts about looking and photographing them at Brooks Falls, Alaska. Grizzlies rarely attack humans and you'd have a much better chance of being struck by lightning than eaten by a bear. It's better to be safe than sorry and leave them alone. Even the author received a fair warning from one!

The author points out that "grizzly bears and brown bears are the same species," Ursus arctos. Coastal bears have a dark coat and inland ones tend to have grizzled fur. These bears love to eat and will eat salmon and are sometimes known to be dumpster divers. In this book you'll learn about their habitat, their "annual life cycle," their breeding habits, their relationship with their mothers, their social instincts, what they eat (in addition to garbage), their lifespan, why biologists collar grizzlies, where you can safely see them, you'll learn about the special Karelian bear dogs and you'll learn about why they are an endangered species.

I have always enjoyed every "Face to Face" book I've read. This one, like all the other ones, has magnificent photographs and is very informative. Scattered throughout the book you'll find some interesting sidebars. For example, you'll find one about "How to NOT get eaten by a grizzly." In the back of the book is a section that tells you how you can help, a "Facts at a Glance" section, a glossary, an index and additional book, article and web site resources. Did you know that a grizzly can gain as much as 200 pounds or more preparing for winter? WOW!