Victoria Miles.  Old Mother Bear
Chronicle Books  $21.95  ISBN 978-0-8118-5033-9  40 pg.
Reviewed by Sarah, Age 16

Mother Bear is twenty-four years old now, old for a grizzly. This is the story of her last few years, and her last litter of cubs. Illustrator, Molly Bang’s chalk paintings do a wonderful job of telling the grizzly’s story. I loved the cover art; it’s my favourite picture. The endpapers are simple and plain, but a bit too dark to read the text easily.

This story is quite long for a child’s book, with complicated words and some unappealing descriptions of the bear’s life. There is a great deal of text on each page, which may put off some of the younger readers. It is probably better suited as a read aloud to children between six and nine, or for confident readers between the ages of ten and twelve.

I think that Old Mother Bear deserves four stars.  It was an interesting story, with a very true-to-life, realistic approach.