The Summer Of The Bear

“A gently absorbing tale which smoothly splices poignant family drama with suspenseful Cold War thriller,” from the author of Hunting Unicorns. (Daily Mail). In 1980 Germany, under Cold War tension, a mole is suspected in the British Embassy. When the diplomat Nicky Fleming dies—suddenly and suspiciously—some find it convenient to brand him the traitor. As the government digs into Nicky’s history, his wife Letty hopes to salvage their family by taking their three children to live on an island in Scotland’s Outer Hebrides. But the isolated shores of her childhood retreat only intensify their distance, and it is Letty’s youngest child, Jamie, who alone holds on to the one thing he’s sure of: his father promised to return. And he was a man who never broke a promise. Named an O Magazine Summer Reading Pick and a selection for NPR’s “Books with Personality,” The Summer of the Bear reads like “García Márquez meets le Carré meets A.A. Milne at times, with hints of William Golding at others” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review).

A bear family amuses itself with summer and winter activities such as walking, swimming, making snowmen, and decorating trees.

A bear family amuses itself with summer and winter activities such as walking, swimming, making snowmen, and decorating trees.

The winner of the Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction, Marian Engel’s most famous – and most controversial – novel tells the unforgettable story of a woman transformed by a primal, erotic relationship. Lou is a lonely librarian who spends her days in the dusty archives of the Historical Institute. When an unusual field assignment comes her way, she jumps at the chance to travel to a remote island in northern Ontario, where she will spend the summer cataloguing a library that belonged to an eccentric nineteenth-century colonel. Eager to investigate the estate’s curious history, she is shocked to discover that the island has one other inhabitant: a bear. Lou’s imagination is soon overtaken by the island’s past occupants, whose deep fascination with bears gradually becomes her own. Irresistibly, Lou is led along a path of emotional and sexual self-awakening, as she explores the limits of her own animal nature. What she discovers will change her life forever. As provocative and powerful now as when it was first published. Includes a reading group guide.

Bear Encounters is a collection of more than 90 stories about the run-ins everyday people have with bears. From the one about the black bear at the cabin that was chased away by the fifteen-pound family dog, to the bear that harmlessly wandered through a Boy Scout camp, these brief and often funny encounters capture the true nature of bears. The stories were collected from fans of the North American Bear Center and are grouped into sections that debunk common bear myths.

Brother and Sister Bear want a summer job but they must first convince Farmer Ben they can do the work.

Sea otters and polar bears are carnivorous marine mammals that still resemble their terrestrial ancestors. Compared with Cetacea (whales and dolphins), Sirenia (dugongs and manatees), and Pinnipedia (seals, sea lions, and walrus), they are less adapted for an aquatic life and the most recently evolved among marine mammals. Sea otters are amphibious but seldom come ashore, and polar bears primarily occur on sea ice or along the shore. When at sea, both species spend most of their time swimming at the surface or making short, shallow dives when foraging or pursuing prey. Indeed, polar bears rarely pursue seals in water. Nevertheless, polar bears are powerful swimmers and will stalk seals from the water. As with many other large carnivores, they are solitary hunters. Although sea otters are gregarious and form aggregations at sea called rafts, they are primarily asocial. Except during mating, the principal interaction among sea otters occurs between a female and offspring during the six-month dependency period. In large carnivores (e.g., wolves and lions) that feed on ungulates, sociality and cooperation are favored because of the need to capture large prey and defend carcasses. Polar bears, which are the largest terrestrial carnivore, are solitary hunters of seals and are neither gregarious nor social. Males and females briefly associate during courtship and mating. During this time, males aggressively compete for females. At other times, males generally avoid each other except for aggregations of males that form while summering on land, and females with cubs avoid males, which are known for infanticide. As with sea otters, the interaction of polar bears outside of mating occurs between a female and her offspring during the 2-3 year dependency period. This interaction is critically important when altricial cubs are born in the winter den. This book provides new insight into the ethology and behavioral ecology of sea otters and polar bears. Each chapter reviews the discoveries of previous studies and integrates recent research using new techniques and technology. The authors also address historic and current anthropogenic challenges for their survival as climate change alters entire marine ecosystems.

David will never forget the day he met Theo—as much as he might want to. On a mission to right a wrong done to his sister as a child, David walks into LAO Schulz, a famous toy Mecca in the heart of New York City. What he sees that day in the stuffed-animal aisle challenges everything he understands about reality. As David turns the corner, he hears the sound of slapping. He investigates and sees a rather large stuffed bear viciously smacking a toddler around. As quickly as it starts, the attack ends. The bear regards David with cold, plastic eyes, climbs up on its shelf, and quickly settles into the lifeless pose one would expect from stuffed bears. Not only is this stuffed bear alive, David realizes, he’s evil. David decides he must own this bear, and with that, their bizarre relationship begins. His name is Theo, and he’s got a whopper of a story to further challenge David’s belief system. Cruelly put to death as a real bear cub, Theo is given a second chance at life—as a stuffed animal. Theo is forced to become a killer as a rising star among the ranks of a secret brotherhood of gangster teddy bears. Betrayed, Theo is left to rot in the slammer. Theo and his friends conspire to escape. With the loyal Houdini by his side, the gang breathes free air again, but karma, as they say, is no friend to an ex-con.