From National Book Award in Fiction finalist Andrew Krivak comes a gorgeous fable of Earth’s last two human inhabitants, and a girl’s journey home In an Edenic future, a girl and her father live close to the land in the shadow of a lone mountain. They possess a few remnants of civilization: some books, a pane of glass, a set of flint and steel, a comb. The father teaches the girl how to fish and hunt, the secrets of the seasons and the stars. He is preparing her for an adulthood in harmony with nature, for they are the last of humankind. But when the girl finds herself alone in an unknown landscape, it is a bear that will lead her back home through a vast wilderness that offers the greatest lessons of all, if she can only learn to listen. A cautionary tale of human fragility, of love and loss, The Bear is a stunning tribute to the beauty of nature’s dominion. Andrew Krivak is the author of two previous novels: The Signal Flame, a Chautauqua Prize finalist, and The Sojourn, a National Book Award finalist and winner of both the Chautauqua Prize and Dayton Literary Peace Prize. He lives with his wife and three children in Somerville, Massachusetts, and Jaffrey, New Hampshire, in the shadow of Mount Monadnock, which inspired much of the landscape in The Bear.

All the world over, people tell stories to express their deepest feelings about such things as what makes a "real" man or woman; what true love, courage, or any other virtue is; what the proper relationships are between people. Often groups of people widely separated by space or time will tell the same basic story, but with differences in the details that reveal much about a particular group's worldview. This book looks at differences in the telling of several common Hispanic folktales. James Taggart contrasts how two men—a Spaniard and an Aztec-speaking Mexican—tell such tales as "The Bear's Son." He explores how their stories present different ways of being a man in their respective cultures. Taggart's analysis contributes to a revision of Freud's theory of gender, which was heavily grounded in biological determinism. Taggart focuses instead on how fathers reproduce different forms of masculinity in their sons. In particular, he shows how fathers who care for their infant sons teach them a relational masculinity based on a connected view of human relationships. Thus, The Bear and His Sons will be important reading not only in anthropology and folklore, but also in the growing field of men's studies.

Eddy doesn't want to go to the woods for a picnic with Mum. He's scared that the huge hungry bear who lives there will make a picnic out of him

One morning, Mack the bear wakes up with Zack the boy on his back, but as Mack tries to complete a schedule that is "jam-packed," Zack suggests that he relax and take a second to smell the lilacs.

From the creator of the Gossie and Gertie books comes a playful and charming twist on the relationship between children and the adults who care for them. Old Bear loves Little Cub with all his heart. He makes sure that Little Cub eats all his porridge, takes a nap during their snowy walk, and wraps his red scarf tightly around his ears. Little Cub doesn't want to be told what to do, but he always listens to Old Bear because he knows that Old Bear loves him so. But when Old Bear catches a cold, it's Little Cub who knows just what to do to make Old Bear feel better. This winning story shows just how much Old Bears and Little Cubs love one another--with all their hearts.

At the end of the day a little boy falls asleep as his mama reads about a bear hibernating. Full color.

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