Book Review: What will I do without you? (lower elementary fiction)

Jefferson Bear and Figgy Two Socks are best friends.  But when Jefferson Bear must go hibernate, Figgy must figure out how she will occupy herself in his absence. She feels abandoned, sad, and angry when he must leave. And nothing seems fun anymore. She starts out exploring by herself and finally finds a new friend in Hoptail the Squirrel. Gently and permissively this book explores the more challenging emotions that can come from interactions with friends. Especially, you will love the gentle watercolor pictures that make the winter forest so playful and inviting. There is much to talk about in the backdrop. And in case you are wondering, yes, red foxes really do enjoy red worms- but even more so in the spring and early summer.

Admittedly, I probably am drawn to this book in part because it makes a top carnivore and a lowly scavenger lovable. After so many children's books that vilify them and perpetuate stereotypes of them as raging man-eaters or worthless competition that warrant extreme fear and thoughtless hunting, it is a welcomed change when they are featured as the main characters. I feel that introducing animals in such fanciful ways in children's books is one way we can start altering public perceptions towards them. (For two GREAT explanations and definitions of the importance of Keystone species and the crucial role of predators see these links. These are direct links to articles in Mother Earth News that I have found to be among the best non-technical and compassionate explanations I have ever seen. These would be a great review before teaching about food webs).

This is a great early elementary book for introducing curricula related to topics such as winter, snowmen, real verses pretend, hibernation, snow tracks, seasonal animal (and plant) adaptations, carnivore verses omnivore, and signs of winter coming verses signs of spring coming. On a social level this book discusses giving our friends space to be different from us, not being clingy, playing alone, dealing with teasing, and making new friends. 

You can share with your students what a real baby fox looks like:

Image borrowed from Lylaandblue.com

And you can remind them that in real life bear/fox interactions are much more intense. Go here to see an amazing photograph of the two chasing each other.