SYNOPSIS

Melanie and her family make an annual visit to a cabin in Glacier National Park in Montana.

This year, a key family member is missing – Mel’s mom recently died in a car accident, which Mel faults herself for.

Mel wanders off into the woods even though she has heard of grizzlies approaching encampments, and the first time she barely escapes from a hungry bear.

The next time she is less lucky. Having heard rumors that grizzlies visit a lodge up in the mountain, Mel and two adults take a hike up there.

While at the lodge, Mel is attacked by a grizzly scavenging nearby garbage dispersed for tourists’ entertainment.

Mel survives but two other campers die of bear attacks.

The resulting public outrage and media attention cause drastic changes in the care for grizzlies in national parks.

PERFECT AGE 8 – 12

We love

• Good balance between “scary” and “exciting” around a serious and quite unpleasant topic.
• Beautiful illustrations nicely complement the narrative.
• You may be surprised to know but there’s barely any blood shown / drawn (again with the double meaning…)!
• Informative passages around nature preservation, animal habitats and human encroachment, effective means of drawing public attention to problems.

CONVERSATION STARTERS

• What helpful information did we learn about porcupines from grandpa’s story? What important role do porcupines play later in the story?
• How do you think the rangers’ behavior toward grizzly sighting reports impacted Mel’s experiences? What could they have done to prevent attacks?
• Who was at fault at the Granite Park Chalet for the grizzlies’ visits? How could Mel’s accident been avoided?
• What are some important changes national parks have implemented since 1967 to address these tragedies?