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Reviewed by:
  • There Will Be Bears by Ryan Gebhart
  • Elizabeth Bush
Gebhart, Ryan. There Will Be Bears. Candlewick, 2014. 217p. ISBN 978-0-7636-6521-0 $16.99 R Gr. 5-7.

For Tyson, the highlight of turning thirteen was to be the long-promised opportunity to shoot and field-dress his first elk on a trip to Bridger-Teton National Forest with Gramps. What Tyson gets instead is the news that Gramps is experiencing kidney failure and is moving to a nursing home where he can get affordable dialysis—oh, and Gramps isn’t really Tyson’s blood relative, but his dad’s stepfather. That all this is revealed in a tardy, roundabout fashion leaves Tyson feeling betrayed: “It’s one thing for Mom and Dad to treat me like a kid—they’re stupid. But Gramps couldn’t tell me?” His love for Gramps, however, is enduring and his desire to go through with the trip unshakeable, so the pair plots a way to sneak off between treatments for a brief stint in the mountains. It’s a pretty insane idea, fraught not only with danger to Gramps’ fragile health but also with the very real threat from a rogue grizzly that has mauled tourists and hunters over the past few weeks. The book is strongly written, and Tyson’s emotional turmoil, which he glibly covers with barbed observations and self-deprecating humor, is painfully real. The gorily precise details of the elk kill and butchering also add compelling dimension to a familiar story of coming to terms with the debility of a beloved grandparent. Family stories and adventure tales are often relegated to separate pigeonholes, and this title offers fresh crossover appeal.

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