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Buster Bear and That Blue Thing

by Chiquita Phillips

24 pages; Saddle stitched; Illustrated; catalogue #04-1737; ISBN 1-4120-3929-0; US$13.50, C$14.99, EUR11.00, £7.50

A young polar bear, waiting for the winter, sees a blue hat blown off a lady's head. He seizes the hat, plays with it, and decides it's a good toy.

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About the Book      About the Author      Excerpts      Catalogue Information

About the Book

This polar bear story is based on an actual incident I observed near Churchill, Manitoba, polar bear capital of the world. The bears wait out the months after the ice melts in the spring. They sleep and hang out in the willow bushes. They don't eat while they wait for the next season's ice to form. Then they can go out on the ice to hunt.

A Young bear was hanging about on a windy day. A group of tourists was on the back deck of a tundra buggy. One of the women hadn't tied up her blue hat and it flew off. The bear dashed out from his spot and seized the hat. For over an hour he chewed, batted, tossed, kicked and rolled, all with the blue hat. People on the original buggy and those in buggies which gathered to watch the show ere laughing, clapping and taking photographs. Occasionally the bear would glance up after a laugh and seem to be aware that he had an audience, but he kept right on playing.

When I returned home, I wrote the story of Buster bear. I think children who are always being told. "Later", or "Tomorrow", will understand what waiting means. I also hope to widen children's perception about the life of the polar bear, so that they can appreciate and help to preserve this unique animal and its environment.

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About the Author

I am a former teacher. After retiring, I took a trip to Canada's Arctic. The spare and subtle landscape became and inspiration to paint and I took up watercolours. The paintings I did to illustrate this story made Buster Bear come to life. I've been painting for several years now and have taken part in successful group shows, with both watercolours and acrylics. Paintings can be viewed on my web site chiqu.tripod.com. Most recently I visited the Antarctic and am working on scenes of that vast continent.

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Excerpts

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Catalogue Information

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