Wolf Island: My Great Bear Rainforest.

Wolf Island

(My Great Bear Rainforest)

written by Nicholas Read

photographs by Ian McAllister

Orca Book Publishers, 2017

978-1-4598-1264-2 (hc) $19.95

978-1-4598-1266-6 (eBook) $4.99

for Kindergarten to Grade 3

A Bear's Life

(My Great Bear Rainforest)

written by Nicholas Read

photographs by Ian McAllister

Orca Book Publishers, 2017

978-1-4598-1270-3 (hc) $19.95

978-1-4598-1272-7 (eBook) $4.99

for Kindergarten to Grade 3

Non-fiction Picture Book / Photography / Wildlife / Animals / Rainforest / Seasons

Stretching along the Pacific coast from Vancouver Island to southeast Alaska, the Great Bear Rainforest is the largest intact temperate rainforest left anywhere in the world. It's home to more than 230 species of birds and 68 species of mammals. Four of these mammals--wolves, grizzly bears, black bears and spirit bears--are the subjects of Wolf Island and A Bear's Life, the first two books in Ian McAllister and Nicholas Read's My Great Bear Rainforest series.

Bringing together stunning photographs by McAllister, an award-winning photographer and environmental leader, and captivating prose, the photographic non-fiction picture books in the My Great Bear Rainforest series explore the rainforest's majestic landscapes and the wildlife that inhabits them. The photographs of 'wild animals in wild circumstances' are never digitally altered, giving readers an up-close look at wolves and bears in their own habitats, whether they're munching on berries, playfully catching salmon or searching the lush terrain for a mate.

Despite their value as informational texts, filled with facts about animal families, habitats, eating habits and animal senses, each book in the series also features a narrative arc. Wolf Island tells the story of the first wolf to arrive on a secluded Great Bear Rainforest island after leaving his family one spring in search of a new life. The second book in the series, A Bear's Life, follows multiple bear families through a year in their lives, examining how bears interact with seasons in the Great Bear Rainforest.

Visually spectacular, Wolf Island and A Bear's Life work best as a pair, showing how different types of animals navigate the vast and ancient rainforest in both different and similar ways. Read together, these books--and undoubtedly any others that will be added to the series in the future--provide opportunities for readers to compare and contrast the habits, homes and personalities of some of their favourite animals in a highly engaging and informative way. Full of universal themes--among them teamwork, friendship and the importance of a family unit--the books in the My Great Bear Rainforest series will delight readers of all interests and abilities.

Jessica Rose is a writer, reviewer and editor in Hamilton, Ontario.