Two Bear Cubs: A Miwok Legend from California's Yosemite Valley

by Robert D. San Souci (Retold by), Daniel San Souci (Illustrator)

Overview

This engaging retelling of the Southern Sierra Miwok legend features the great Yosemite Valley monolith, El Capitan, and how it came to be. Mother Grizzly Bear thinks that her two playful cubs are wrestling and having fun along the Merced River while she is checking her fish traps. When she returns to join her sons, however, she discovers the cubs are nowhere to be found. It takes an unlikely hero to bring her cubs safely home. Populated with characters based on real Sierra animals, this story is about the value of all beings, the nature of courage, and the idea that being a hero has very little to do with one’s size. Includes notes about the life and culture of the Southern Sierra Miwok and a bibliography.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781930238589
Publisher:	Yosemite Conservancy
Publication date:	08/11/2015
Edition description:	First Trade Paper Edition
Pages:	36
Sales rank:	389,956
Product dimensions:	9.50(w) x 10.50(h) x (d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Robert D. San Souci (1946 – 2014) was a native of California and worked with illustrators from all across the country to create children's books, but his favorite illustrator and collaborator was his brother, Daniel San Souci. They published twelve books together. He passed away in December 2014.

Daniel San Souci was born in San Francisco and grew up across the bay in Berkeley, California. In 1978 he started a career in book illustration. He has published over 80 books and created many book covers which include wildlife and national park titles. He lives in Oakland, CA.

Editorial Reviews

K-Gr 3This Miwok legend tells of two bear cubs who become stranded on a high mountain while having an adventure, of the many large and strong animals Mother Bear enlists to try to lead them down, and of the little creature that finally succeeds. It may be difficult, at first, to accept the adorable pictures that feature the gray fox and badger wearing breech cloths and Mother Bear wearing faux pearls with the serious Native American theme of the courage and triumph of a lowly worm. However, the opening paragraph explains that the story was set during a time when creatures were part animal and part human, and once into the tale, the illustrations enhance the perspectives of climbing "El Capitan." Useful information on the legend on which this retelling is based and the Miwok people who inhabited the Southern Sierras, as well as related readings and Internet resources, are appended. Children will relate to the age-old theme of the small overcoming obstacles that stronger, mightier creatures cannot. Primary-grade children will find this book approachable, and a younger audience will appreciate hearing it aloud.Mollie Bynum, formerly at Chester Valley Elementary School, Anchorage, AK

School Library Journal