Books like The Grizzly Maze — picked by fans

I love this book for its fabulous sense of place, nonstop action, and realistic depiction of the rough-and-tumble Yukon during the 1890s Gold Rush.

The protagonist may be a dog but Buck, the good-heard Saint Bernard we meet as affable and innocent puppy, is I truly believe one of the most unforgettable characters in the history of adventure novels. His transition to a feral state is utterly believable as the book unfolds the darkness that lies at the heart of all too many men and the often violent chain of events that causes Buck to seek a new life.

I have read this book three times, and each time, it continues to amaze me. 

Okay, I confess this is the same story as the recommendation above, The Elephants Come Home, but this is written by the actual guy, Lawrence Anthony, who undertook this effort.

Also, instead of a picture book, it is a 380-page tale told by the person who lived it. If you love The Elephants Come Home, you’ll want to read Elephant Whisperer as well.

I found myself exclaiming again and again over the stories that Anthony tells of life on the sanctuary.

The central theme of The Winter Horses involves an almost extinct horse breed (Przewalski) with ties to prehistoric cave horses located in the middle of one of the worst wars in our human history, World War Two. As starvation and Nazi occupation reduce the humanity within, heroes surface to protect not only the horses but the desperate survivors who have adapted to living on the fringe. The book has much to recommend besides the local saviors, a young female Jewish teen surfaces who is on the run and befriends the horses. She along with the past horse caretaker precariously exist within the occupation, until she is forced to lead the horses away from death, through a snowy and treacherous terrain all while being pursued. This book explores the importance of protecting our fragile almost extinct animals, counterbalanced with highlighting the horses’ strong adaptive abilities that allowed them to survive so… show more.

Shadow Horse, part of the Shadow Horse series starts immediately with action and tragedy, a young female teen is arrested for the assault of her grandfather’s employer. This in part seems to be in retaliation for the strange and mysterious death of her beloved horse, Whirlwind. Her life spirals downward with her grandfather’s sudden stroke and her court-ordered sentence of house arrest. She is relocated to a foster family on an animal and horse rescue farm for supervision. I thoroughly enjoyed this book because it not only explores the extraordinarily complex relationships with horses and owners, but the problems involved with trusting again after a traumatic betrayal. And, if that was not enough, the writer intertwines all the above with a complicated who done it mystery involving horses which slowly puts the protagonist in dangerous, uncomfortable situations requiring her to find her inner strength and new allies.

What I found most enjoyable about If I Were a Bear is that it uses a rhyming text to share simple facts about various Alaskan bears. It’s a lovely combination of lyrical writing and nonfiction, with soft watercolor illustrations by Erik Brooks. Young children love hearing rhyming texts (their brains actually need rhythm and patterns for healthy development!), so whenever I find a book with well-written rhyme that conveys factual information, it’s a winner in my book!

We often fear change and it’s for this reason that we don’t dare try something new. We’re afraid we won’t be able to go back to the way things were before in case we don’t succeed. It’s important to realize that the people who truly appreciate and love us will always support our endeavors and welcome us back regardless of whether we succeeded or failed. The Bear and the Piano relates this message in a gentle and inspiring way for me.

This funny picture book with underwear-shaped holes follows Polar Bear and his friend Mouse as they look for Polar Bear’s underwear. Readers see a peek of the underwear on the next page and have to guess whose underwear they could be. The guessing game aspect of the book plus the topic of underwear make this a really fun read for toddlers. I also love the surprise ending which will have you examining the illustrations throughout the book again. You can also use this book to encourage potty training because it celebrates all kinds of fun underwear.   

I love this book for its wacky humor, its kindness, and its great illustrations.

The sleepy dad’s hair sticking up always makes me smile. Not to mention the bear trying to hide under the bed, which is smaller than he is. And I love its gentle sympathy for the clumsily helpful child and the suffering and then grateful bear.

This is one of my favorite children’s books until today. It’s wonderfully illustrated and it teaches good manners in a fun way. I like how Brother Bear and Sister Bear pretended to observe good manners in compliance with Mama Bear’s Politeness Plan but as time passed, they eventually ended up practicing good manners out of habit. I also like that the book showed that not even the grown-ups (such as Papa Bear) are exempted from the house rules.

The title of the book tells you that the book is going to be F-U-N. Hugless Douglas. When Douglas the bear wakes up after his Winter sleep, all he really wants is a nice big hug! Douglas sets off in search of the best hug, and the hugs he gets just seem to lack something, but what? 

Does Hugless Douglas finally get the hug he really wants? This is such a lovely, heart-warming book and it is especially nice at bedtime!