The Bears and I
A friend gave my husband The Bears and I. I picked it up to see what it was about and once I started reading I couldn’t put it down until I finished it.
The story is set in the wilderness of British Columbia where Bob, the author, is panning for gold for the summer when an old sow bear leaves him with triplet orphaned black bear cubs. Bob’s heart goes out to the small creatures that he describes as the size of teddy bears and he decides to raise them until they are old enough to survive on their own. The cubs end up sharing his cabin. They even sleep with him in his sleeping bag.
What makes this story remarkable is the amazing bond of love that develops between Bob and these three bear cubs and the insights we gain into bears. After reading this book I don’t think I’ll ever look at them the same. The bear cubs each had a distinct personality and enjoyed playing tricks on each other. They also had a wonderful spirit of fun and adventure.
As the cubs grew older they also learned to hunt together and to protect each other. They were highly intelligent creatures and soon learned their names and to respond to simple voice commands and gestures. Like when there was danger Bob would say tree and point to the tree and they would run up it.
The book is also an exciting adventure story especially in the first half as Bob tries to keep these three cubs alive against all the dangers of the wilderness including predators that eat bear cubs. There is also a devastating fire that sweeps across the forest they live in and a harrowing journey by canoe deeper into the wilderness with a winter’s worth of supplies.
The author vividly describes nature with its plants, flowers, birds, animals and changes in season in such detail that I felt I was right there with him every step of the way.
It helped that I’ve had enough of my own experience in the wilderness to relate to his. I’ve been backpacking in the Bitterroot and Rocky Mountains in the United States and in the Canadian Rockies. I’ve also been canoeing in the Boundary waters wilderness of the US and Canada. I’ve experienced having a bear come to my campsite at night and breaking the branch of a tree where we’d carefully tied up our food bag ten feet above the ground. I’ve also paddled a canoe across rough lakes in the rain with high winds and chopping waves.
I could also relate to Bob’s winter experiences with deep snow and long months of cold weather as I live just across the Canadian border in Minnesota.
Moreover, the book is enjoyable because the writing is excellent with detailed descriptions, original metaphors and good insights into life. Bob wrestles with questions like how much of the wilderness should be a game refuge or park and how to do we protect wild animals. Bob also ponders the questions of why animals live by killing one another and why there are forest fires, which wipe out so many of the creatures that live there.
Here is a link to the movie trailer:
http://video.disney.com/watch/the-bears-and-i-trailer-4beae8d9badd4dc60c94e3f9
Here is a link to John Denver singing a song he wrote for the movie.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4aVEbHR8UE
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