Customer Reviews

Face to Face with Grizzlies (Face to Face with Animals)

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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.

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.

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!