Bear on the Train
- Publisher
- Kids Can Press
- Initial publish date
- Aug 2001
- Category
- Bears
- Recommended Age
- 4 to 18
- Recommended Grade
- p to 12
-
Paperback / softback
- ISBN
- 9781553370680
- Publish Date
- Aug 2001
- List Price
- $7.95
-
Hardback
- ISBN
- 9781550745603
- Publish Date
- Sep 1999
- List Price
- $15.95
Classroom Resources
Where to buy it
Out of print
This edition is not currently available in bookstores. Check your local library or search for used copies at Abebooks.
Description
One fall day, a bear follows the smell of grain down a mountain and onto a hopper car on a mile-long freight train. Nobody sees him but Jeffrey, who shouts at him to get off the train. The bear pays no attention and soon settles in for a long winter sleep. For months, Jeffrey watches for the train to pass through his town, and each time it does, he tries to rouse the bear. But it's not until the fresh green smells of spring are in the air that the bear wakes from his sleep and heads back up the mountain. Bear on the Train combines a beautifully written text with richly evocative illustrations to create an unusual tale of hibernation that hums with the rhythm of the rails.
About the authors
Julie Lawson is the author of over 30 books for children and young adults. Her critically acclaimed works have received numerous award nominations, including the Children's Book Centre Award for A Blinding Light, the Canadian Library Association Award for White Jade Tiger, and Forest of Reading Awards for Goldstone, Ghosts of the Titanic, A Ribbon of Shining Steel, and many more. Her YA novels include White Jade Tiger (winner of the Sheila A. Egoff BC Children's Fiction Prize), No Safe Harbour (winner of the Hackmattack Children's Choice Award) and A Blinding Light (runner-up for the City Of Victoria Bolen Books Prize).
Julie writes from her home in Victoria, BC.
BRIAN DEINES has illustrated numerous books for children, including SkySisters
(written by Jan BourdeauWaboose), Dragonfly Kites (written by Thomson Highway),
and One Hockey Night (written by DavidWard). He has been nominated for
numerous awards, including the Governor General’s Literary Award, the Ruth and
Sylvia Schwartz Children’s Literature Award, the Martha Baillie Picture Book
Award, and the Lillian Shepherd Memorial Award. A native of Red Deer, Alberta,
Brian lives in Toronto.
Awards
- Short-listed, Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbon Award
Editorial Reviews
Deines’s rich oil paintings ... are attractively textured — Best shared as a read-aloud to appreciate fully the language and captivating illustrations.
Beautiful text combines with the evocative illustrations to create an unusual tale of hibernation that hums with the rhythm of the rails.
Lawson’s words have a lovely elemental temper, spare, chiming and timeless ... The train and the landscapes it runs through are beautifully rendered by Deines, with an impressionistic sense of place harnessed by the implacable energy of the locomotive and its train of cars.
Kirkus Reviews
Kids will enjoy the secret adventure story with its rollicking train rhythms and dramatic brown-shaded oil paintings.
Julie Lawson’s simple, repetitive text echoes the train’s rhythmic motion and lends itself to reading aloud. She gives her story a sense of authenticity, using accurate train vocabulary like “hopper” and “siding” and describing the train’s voyage west with geographical accuracy ...
Quill & Quire
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