Chronicles a year in a black bear's life, beginning with her emerging from hibernation in Tennessee's Smoky Mountains during the spring thaw in February.

As the cold eases and spring emerges in fits and starts, the behaviors of a variety of creatures are documented; at the center of the drama is the bear. The book opens with its first stirrings from hibernation, but flashes back--almost as if in the bear's own slumbery dreams--to the events of the summer and autumn before: eating, playing, courtship, and mating. George's writing is memorable, such as one passage in which the animal resists sleep, waiting for the exact instinctual moment to hibernate. Readers also follow the awakenings of nearby insects, sap quickening, and mating dances.

This is accurate nonfiction that reads like a story, and is perfectly suited for reading aloud.