Teddy Fitzroy, his family, and some other FunJungle employees have been invited to visit a bison ranch just outside Yellowstone National Park that FunJungle’s owner, J.J. McCracken, is considering purchasing. But as usual, trouble isn’t far behind.
The ranch’s endangered bison have been mysteriously disappearing. Then a massive local grizzly bear named Sasquatch breaks into the house, causing chaos. In the aftermath, Kandace McCracken discovers that her exceptionally expensive sapphire necklace has vanished.
Was it stolen? Or did Sasquatch eat it? (And if so, can it be recovered?) And what’s been happening to the bison?
With over a dozen suspects, it’s up to Teddy to detangle this hairy situation, before his family or friends—or any more expensive objects—become dinner.
Teddy Fitzroy, his family, and some other FunJungle employees have been invited to visit a bison ranch just outside Yellowstone National Park that FunJungle’s owner, J.J. McCracken, is considering purchasing. But as usual, trouble isn’t far behind.
The ranch’s endangered bison have been mysteriously disappearing. Then a massive local grizzly bear named Sasquatch breaks into the house, causing chaos. In the aftermath, Kandace McCracken discovers that her exceptionally expensive sapphire necklace has vanished.
Was it stolen? Or did Sasquatch eat it? (And if so, can it be recovered?) And what’s been happening to the bison?
With over a dozen suspects, it’s up to Teddy to detangle this hairy situation, before his family or friends—or any more expensive objects—become dinner.
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Overview
Teddy Fitzroy, his family, and some other FunJungle employees have been invited to visit a bison ranch just outside Yellowstone National Park that FunJungle’s owner, J.J. McCracken, is considering purchasing. But as usual, trouble isn’t far behind.
The ranch’s endangered bison have been mysteriously disappearing. Then a massive local grizzly bear named Sasquatch breaks into the house, causing chaos. In the aftermath, Kandace McCracken discovers that her exceptionally expensive sapphire necklace has vanished.
Was it stolen? Or did Sasquatch eat it? (And if so, can it be recovered?) And what’s been happening to the bison?
With over a dozen suspects, it’s up to Teddy to detangle this hairy situation, before his family or friends—or any more expensive objects—become dinner.
Product Details
ISBN-13: | 9781534479463 |
---|---|
Publisher: | Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers |
Publication date: | 05/11/2021 |
Series: | FunJungle |
Pages: | 320 |
Sales rank: | 1,052,722 |
Product dimensions: | 5.50(w) x 8.40(h) x 1.20(d) |
Lexile: | 820L (what's this?) |
Age Range: | 8 - 12 Years |
About the Author
![About The Author](http://img.images-bn.com/static/redesign/srcs/images/grey-box.png?v11.11.4)
Read an Excerpt
Chapter 1: The Selfie of Doom
1 THE SELFIE OF DOOM
My family was delayed on our return to the ranch because we were trying to prevent a tourist from getting mauled by an elk.
We were leaving Yellowstone National Park, having spent the day exploring, on our first vacation in two years. My parents had been working overtime at FunJungle Adventure Park, the world-famous theme park/zoo, since before it had even opened. Mom was the head primatologist and Dad was the official photographer, and their jobs kept them extremely busy.
I had always thought that FunJungle attracted an unusual number of dumb tourists. But at Yellowstone, I discovered that there were dumb tourists everywhere.
It was the week after the Fourth of July, and thus the height of tourist season; Yellowstone was flooded with visitors from all over the planet. That day we had witnessed dozens of people doing incredibly boneheaded things, often directly in front of signs warning them not to do them: attempting to pet wild animals, climbing over the safety railings at scenic viewpoints, swimming in rivers with life-threatening rapids—and positioning their young children dangerously close to bison for photographs. Two rangers had to arrest a college student who was about to use Monarch Geyser as a hot tub; apparently, he hadn’t realized that the 204-degree water would have boiled him alive.
I had also overheard tourists ask the park rangers startlingly uninformed questions, such as: “What time do you turn off the Old Faithful Geyser every night?” “Why do we have to stay on the hiking paths when the deer don’t?” And “Where can we see the presidents carved into the mountain?” (The answers were: “It’s a geological feature, not a fountain”; “The deer are wild animals”; and “You’re thinking of Mount Rushmore, which is five hundred miles away in South Dakota.”) I also heard one person angrily claim that a raccoon had stolen his bag of Cheetos and demand that the park service refund his money. Tourists did things like this so often that the park rangers had a name for them: tourons.
Despite all of that, it had been a good day. Yellowstone featured some of the most beautiful scenery I had ever encountered, and we had also been lucky enough to spot three bald eagles, a moose, and a pair of wolves. Plus, my girlfriend, Summer, was with us. Summer was fourteen, a little bit less than a year older than me. She was smart and fun and liked seeing wildlife and hiking as much as I did. Her father, J.J. McCracken, was the owner of FunJungle, and he had invited us to join him—along with a few other FunJungle employees—at his friend’s ranch in West Yellowstone for a week. While my parents were big fans of Summer and her mother, Kandace, they were a bit wary of J.J., whose actions often concealed ulterior motives. However, the offer had been too good to pass up: a free place to stay, a flight on J.J.’s private jet, and a visit to one of Dad’s favorite places on Earth. (Mom and I had never been to Yellowstone, and Dad had always wanted to take us there.) We had eagerly accepted the offer.
Our group had arrived the evening before, too late to visit Yellowstone, so my parents and I had been raring to go that morning. J.J. had some business to deal with, while Kandace hadn’t arrived yet; she was flying in from a fashion shoot in New York City that afternoon. So Summer came with my family to see the park. Sidney Krautheimer, the owner of the ranch, happily lent us a car.
We were leaving the park in the late afternoon, on the road to West Yellowstone, when we saw the biggest touron of the day.
The road was a picturesque, winding route along the bank of the Madison River. It was relatively free of traffic, which was unusual in Yellowstone, as the roads in the park were prone to traffic jams. Usually, these were due to wildlife sightings; a bear, a moose, or even a common white-tailed deer could cause backups several miles long. But there were also plenty of car wrecks, often caused by tourons who had rented massive recreational vehicles that they couldn’t control. So a wide-open road through the gorgeous landscape was a pleasant surprise.
The first thing that tipped us off that we were dealing with an unusually dumb tourist—even by Yellowstone standards—was the fact that he had abandoned his car in the middle of the road. Rather than taking a few seconds to pull over onto the shoulder, he had simply stopped, put on his hazard lights, and leaped out. He hadn’t even bothered to shut his door. We nearly plowed right into the car as we came around a bend.
For a moment, we feared we had stumbled upon an emergency situation, but then we saw what had caused the man to abandon his car in such a hurry: a small herd of elk, grazing by the river. The touron was trying to get a photograph of them.
I understood why he wanted the photo; it was a spectacular scene. There were five females, four fawns, and a large bull watching over them. The fawns were adorable, certainly only a few weeks old, while the bull had an impressive ten-point rack of antlers. And amazingly, there were no other tourists around. Still, the man was making a very big mistake—in addition to having left his car in the road.
Instead of keeping a respectful distance, he was trying to get as close as possible to the elk, tramping directly across the meadow toward them. This had put all the elk on the alert. The bull looked particularly agitated, but I knew that a mother elk who felt her young were threatened could be very dangerous as well.
Dad parked our car on the shoulder. “I’m gonna see if I can talk some sense into this guy before he gets himself killed,” he said, and hopped out.
Mom climbed out too, so Summer and I did the same. After all, it was a beautiful spot and there was no point in sitting in the car.
It was only then that we discovered the man’s family was still in his car. His wife was in the passenger seat, while his two teenage children sat in the back. All three were making it obvious that they were irritated with the father. None seemed remotely aware that their car was a serious driving hazard.
“Dad!” the daughter yelled out the window. “We’ve seen, like, ten million elk already today and you’ve taken pictures of every one of them! We don’t need any more!”
“These are better elk!” the father yelled back. “This photo’s gonna be amazing!”
“Yeah right,” the son said sarcastically. He wasn’t even looking at the scenery; instead he was riveted to his phone. “It’s just a stupid deer.”
“Morton!” the wife called. “Enough is enough! I’m hungry!”
“I’m sorry to bother you,” Mom said as pleasantly as possible, “but do you think that maybe you could move your car? It’s blocking the road.”
The woman sighed with annoyance, as though my mother had asked her to do something unreasonable. “I can’t move it. That darn fool took the keys.” She pointed toward her husband.
Her daughter noticed Summer and gaped with astonishment.
Summer was famous—although she didn’t want to be. Since her father was a famous businessman and her mother was a fashion model, she’d never had any choice in the matter. She usually did her best to keep a low profile; today she was wearing sunglasses and had her blond hair tucked up under a baseball cap. We had made it through the entire day without anyone recognizing her—until now.
So Summer resorted to her usual trick in such circumstances: She pretended to be someone else.
“You’re Summer McCracken, aren’t you?” the girl asked. She was staring at Summer in the same way that a bird watcher would have regarded a bald eagle.
“Sorry, no,” Summer said, speaking with a fake western twang. “I get that all the time, though.”
The daughter narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “Are you sure you’re not her?”
“Oh, I’m positive,” Summer said.
The daughter started to press the issue, but her brother cut her off. “It’s obviously not her. Do you really think Summer McCracken would be driving around Yellowstone in that car?” He pointed toward our run-down loaner. “Summer wouldn’t come here. She goes places like Paris. Or Dubai.”
The daughter looked from Summer to our car and back to Summer again. “I guess you’re right,” she said.
Meanwhile, their father, Morton, was now attempting to sneak up on the family of elk, even though they were all staring directly at him. He had uprooted a small shrub from the ground—killing it in the process—and was holding it front of him while he waddled across the meadow in a low crouch, apparently hoping that the elk would think he was just a walking bush.
The elk did not appear to be fooled by this at all. Instead, they were growing increasingly upset as Morton approached. Due to the bend in the river, they had water on three sides of them, and Morton was coming from the only land direction; they were boxed in.
“Hey!” Dad shouted at Morton. “You’re getting much too close to those elk! You need to come back to the road!”
“Shhhh!” Morton hissed. “You’re going to scare them away! I’m trying to sneak up on them!”
“Well, you’re not doing a very good job of it!” Summer shouted. “They’re looking right at you! And if you get much closer, they’re going to attack!”
“I saw people getting way closer than this to plenty of animals today!” Morton told her.
“That doesn’t mean it’s right!” I yelled.
Morton ignored us and continued toward the elk, which were visibly nervous now. The fawns edged closer to their mothers, while the bull moved forward and gave an angry snort.
That was certainly meant as a warning to get Morton to back off, although Morton completely failed to comprehend this. Instead, he doubled down on his idiocy. Rather than retreating to his car, he turned his back on the herd of elk—and tried to take a selfie.
“Of course,” Dad said, exasperated.
As a professional wildlife photographer, Dad was extremely annoyed by the proliferation of phone cameras. He had spent his entire life trying to take photos in ways that impacted his subjects as little as possible, like using telephoto lenses, which allowed him to work from so far away that the animals rarely even knew he was there. But even the best camera phones only worked from relatively close by, which often compelled inexperienced amateur photographers like Morton to get much too close to the animals.
However, it was the ability to take selfies that had caused the most problems. Since a selfie required photographers to turn their back on their subject, it led to even more disruptive—and often hazardous—behavior. At FunJungle, there was at least one incident each day of a tourist tumbling backward into an exhibit while attempting to take a selfie. In the national parks, there was even more potential for disaster; a ranger had told me that selfie takers at Yellowstone were regularly falling off scenic viewpoints, riverbanks, canyon edges, and cliffs. Or, like Morton, they were getting dangerously close to wild animals and then not paying attention to them.
Mom, Summer, and I all started shouting at once, trying to get Morton to listen to reason—or scare the elk off. I figured we had a much better chance of scaring the elk. Even Morton’s family now grew concerned. They started shouting at him too. They even got out of the car to do it.
Morton ignored us all. Even worse, he ignored the bull elk behind him, which was growing more and more perturbed.
Since elk look somewhat similar to deer, many people don’t realize exactly how powerful and threatening they can be. A bull elk can grow to over eight feet long and weigh 750 pounds, which is far bigger than a black bear. With their sharp hooves and multipronged antlers, they can fend off full-grown mountain lions—or do serious damage to dumb tourists.
The bull behind Morton was a large specimen. It now pawed the ground and lowered its head, pointing its rack of antlers toward Morton’s backside.
“Morton, you idiot!” his wife screamed at the top of her lungs. “Look behind you!”
“Why?” Morton asked. “Is there something better to get a photo of?” He finally turned around—just in time to see the bull charge him.
Morton yelped in fear and fled across the meadow as fast as he could—which wasn’t very fast at all. He had the build of a man who hadn’t done much exercise in the past decade, and the bull quickly closed in on him.
I almost felt bad for the guy—until, in the midst of his flight, he actually tried to take a selfie. While he should have been completely focused on his own well-being, he stiff-armed the phone in front of him and clicked away.
Meanwhile, his own children were also recording the event. Both had their phones trained on the chase and were laughing as they watched their father run for his life, as though the entire event were taking place on TV.
There was nothing my parents, Summer, or I could do to help Morton. He was too far away from us.
While Morton focused on his selfies rather than fleeing, the bull elk lowered its head—and rammed its antlers into Morton’s ample bottom. Then, with a heave of its powerful neck, it scooped him up and flung him aside. Morton tumbled across the meadow while his phone sailed through the air and plunked into a beaver pond.
I was worried that the bull might now trample Morton, but thankfully it stopped, gave one last snort, and then trotted back to join its herd.
“Morton!” his wife shrieked. She ran across the meadow toward her husband. My parents, Summer, and I joined her, although Morton’s children remained on the shoulder of the road, trying to upload their videos to YouTube.
Morton was howling, which made me fear he was badly hurt, but as we got closer, it became clear what was really upsetting him. “My phone!” he wailed. “That stupid deer made me lose my phone!”
I kept a wary eye on the bull as we approached. “Do you think he might attack again?” I asked my parents.
“No,” Dad replied confidently. “I think he knows he got his point across. Literally.” He pointed to the bull, which still had a shred of Morton’s boxer shorts impaled on the tip of its antler.
Tires screeched on the road behind us, followed by a loud crash. We turned around to see that a large recreational vehicle had plowed into the rear of Morton’s car. (As we would learn later, the driver had been so focused on watching the elk gore Morton, she had taken her eyes off the road until it was too late.) The car slid off the side of the road and smashed into a tree, while the front end of the RV crumpled. A geyser of steam erupted from its radiator, like a miniature Old Faithful.
“My car!” Morton wailed. “And my phone!” He rolled over and shook his fist at the bull elk. “You stupid deer! I’m gonna sue this park for everything they’ve got!”
The bull ignored him and resumed grazing by the river.
We finally arrived at Morton’s side. Given what I’d seen the elk do to him, the injury wasn’t nearly as bad as I’d expected. Morton had a small gouge in the right cheek of his rear end but was otherwise all right. Physically, at least. Mentally, he was enraged over the loss of his car and his phone.
“You saw what that crazy deer did to me, right?” he asked us. “It just attacked me out of nowhere!”
“No, you provoked it,” Mom told him, without an ounce of sympathy. “After we repeatedly warned you not to.”
“How was I supposed to know it was dangerous?” Morton demanded. “There’s no warning signs!”
He was completely wrong. There had been plenty of signs throughout Yellowstone warning visitors that the wildlife was dangerous.
By the roadside, the driver of the RV was now arguing with Morton’s children, most likely about who was at fault in the accident. Just as Morton’s daughter leaned in to let the driver have it, the family car burst into flames.
Morton screamed again. So did his wife. She seemed to forget that her husband was wounded and raced toward the flaming car. “Our clothes!” she shouted to her children. “Get our clothes!”
Mom sighed heavily. “I think we’re going to have to take this guy to the hospital.”
I wasn’t happy about that. And I could see that Dad and Summer were disappointed too. But we couldn’t leave Morton wounded in the middle of the wilderness.
“Darn right I need to go to the hospital,” Morton said. “Lousy, no-good deer! This is the last time I ever go on vacation in a national park!”
“I’m sure the park service will be happy to hear that,” Summer informed him.
Morton ignored her and kept on ranting. “We should have gone on a cruise. They don’t have any homicidal deer on cruise ships.”
Dad looked to me and rolled his eyes. “Welcome to Yellowstone,” he said.
I laughed, figuring this was the strangest thing that would happen to me that day.
It wasn’t even close.
Reading Group Guide
Reading Group Guide for
Bear Bottom
By Stuart Gibbs
About the Book
In the seventh novel in the New York Times bestselling FunJungle series by Stuart Gibbs, Teddy Fitzroy returns as FunJungle’s resident sleuth to solve the disappearances of endangered bison and an irreplaceable necklace. Teddy, his family, and some other FunJungle employees have been invited to visit a bison ranch just outside Yellowstone National Park that FunJungle’s owner, J.J. McCracken, is considering purchasing. But as usual, trouble isn’t far behind. The ranch’s endangered bison have been mysteriously disappearing. Then a massive local grizzly bear named Sasquatch breaks into the house, causing chaos. In the aftermath, Kandace McCracken discovers that her exceptionally expensive sapphire necklace has vanished. With over a dozen suspects, it’s up to Teddy to detangle this hairy situation, before his family or friends—or any more expensive objects—become dinner.
Discussion Questions
The following questions may be utilized throughout the study of Bear Bottom as reflective writing prompts, or alternatively, they can be used as targeted questions for class discussion and reflection.
1. Pause after reading the book’s opening and learning that Teddy and his family have finally left FunJungle for a vacation. What do you predict will be the most exciting part of this change of scenery for Teddy? What challenges would a mystery in this new location present?
2. Teddy tells readers, “I always thought that FunJungle attracted an unusual number of dumb tourists. But at Yellowstone, I discovered that there were dumb tourists everywhere.” Does learning this surprise you? What makes such behavior so disappointing? Do you think social media is to blame? Why does getting attention online sometimes make people behave poorly? Explain your answers using examples from the book and your own life.
3. For Teddy and Summer, the trip to Yellowstone is their first excursion outside of FunJungle as a couple. Are there any ways that traveling with both of their families could be a challenge? If so, what might those be?
4. When a girl visiting with her family recognizes Summer, her brother tells her, “‘It’s obviously not her. Do you really think Summer McCracken would be driving around Yellowstone in that car?’” Do you think Summer’s trick to hide her identity proves to be a clever one? Are there ways in which having to deny who you are becomes a burden? Are there any possible benefits?
5. When Summer and Teddy’s father attempt to get Morton, a Yellowstone tourist, to leave the elk alone, he tells them, “‘I saw people getting way closer than this to plenty of animals today!’” In what ways does Morton demonstrate he is behaving like a classic “touron”? In your opinion, does Morton get what he deserves? Explain your answer.
6. After spending so much time in the scenic Texas hill country, Teddy still finds himself in awe of the West Yellowstone landscape. Why do you think he finds it so striking? What’s the most visually beautiful place you’ve visited? What did you enjoy about it?
7. From what you learned in your reading of Bear Bottom, what makes American bison so unique and special? Were you aware that there are ranches dedicated solely to raising them?
8. As they arrive at the Oy Vey Corral, Teddy and Summer are introduced to Melissa and Evan Krautheimer, the teenage children of Sidney and Heidi Krautheimer. In your opinion, what would be the best part of growing up on a ranch like theirs? What might be the greatest challenges?
9. Consider Summer’s reaction to her father telling the group, “‘I’m thinking about buying the Oy Vey Corral.’” Do you think she’s right to be concerned? Do you believe J.J. really wants their input on the project, or might he have an ulterior motive? Explain your answers.
10. After the group’s first sighting of Sasquatch the grizzly, Sidney Krautheimer tells them all, “‘Sasquatch is nothing to worry about. He comes around most nights and we’ve never had an issue with him.’” Though grizzlies rarely attack humans unless provoked, consider your reaction to seeing a bear so close and in person. How do you believe you would respond?
11. After Teddy agrees with Summer that the Oy Vey Corral would be a fantastic location for a safari lodge, Heidi tells him, “‘There’s another reason we invited you here besides the lodge.’” How does Teddy react to learning that the ranch needs his sleuthing skills to help solve the mystery of disappearing bison? Why does this announcement make his parents appear tense? Though Teddy’s past investigations have been incredibly successful, why are his parents continually resistant to his participation in solving them?
12. After listening to her brother complain about where they live and how remote it is, Melissa tells him, “‘You have no idea how lucky you are, Evan. Can you imagine what life was like for our great-great-grandparents out here?’” Do you agree or disagree with Melissa’s stance? How might life be different today versus Melissa’s great-great-grandparents’ time? Explain your answers.
13. Melissa offers to show Summer and Teddy the secret storage area once used to hide booze under the kitchen. How does learning that the Krautheimer home was once used as a way station for bootlegging make the visitors more interested in the home? How does this space ultimately play a larger role in one of the mysteries to be solved?
14. When Summer’s mom, Kandace, arrives at the Oy Vey Corral, J.J. notices her jewelry and mutters, “‘Dang it. . . . Why’s she wearing that?’” Consider J.J’s frustration with Kandace for wearing such an expensive necklace on this trip. Do you think he’s overreacting, or does he have a right to be concerned?
15. Though Evan prefers to spend his time playing video games and seemingly shows little interest in his family’s ranch, he is a gifted tracker. What might readers infer from this information?
16. What do you think would be the best part of getting to participate in an investigation such as this one? Can you think of any drawbacks to this kind of experience?
17. After Sasquatch’s invasion and destruction of the Krautheimers’ home, J.J. is convinced the grizzly has eaten Kandace’s necklace. Consider his rationale for this argument. Do you think his logic is solid? Do you believe tracking the bear by following his scat is the best way to retrieve the lost jewels? Explain your answers.
18. When describing the value of the necklace, J.J. reluctantly tells Teddy, “‘The fact is, I got a great deal on it when I first bought it for her. It was the deal of a lifetime.’” Why does J.J. choose to have Teddy investigate the missing necklace instead of going to the police? What are the benefits to this arrangement? Can you think of any risks?
19. Throughout Bear Bottom, readers learn a great deal about American bison, bears, elk, wolves, and other animals found in Yellowstone National Park. Were there any animal facts that excited or surprised you? What animals would you like to learn more about?
20. Why does Jericho, the Spooners’ foreman, try to blame the teens for planting the bear-baiting items in the Spooners’ garage shed? What might be the true culprit’s motivation?
21. What makes Teddy’s discovery of the hidden closet and the use of the mysterious RV on the same morning so special?
22. After Summer learns that Teddy has been secretly hired by her father to retrieve her mother’s missing necklace, Teddy apologizes for not telling Summer the whole truth as he was unsure what the right thing was to do. Summer reminds him, “‘We are a team, Teddy. We have to be straight with each other.’” Do you agree or disagree with Summer? How does being honest with one another ultimately benefit them both? Explain your answers.
23. At the end of Bear Bottom, readers discover that J.J.’s former choices and actions lay the groundwork for one of the mysteries. Does knowing the motivation behind the theft of the necklace make the crime any more acceptable? Explain your answer.
24. Once again, Teddy and Summer have solved an important case. Predict what new mystery will come their way in the next installment of the FunJungle books.
Extension Activities
1. After two years of living and working at FunJungle Adventure Park, Teddy and his parents travel to Yellowstone National Park for a much-needed vacation. Besides being the world’s first national park and home to the most famous geyser in the world, Yellowstone is rife with natural wonder. Working with a small group, research Yellowstone facts. Consider learning more about the following:
Where is the park located?
How large is it?
What is it best known for?
What wildlife is it home to?
How many visitors does it receive annually?
What are the greatest challenges faced by the park and the park service?
What are five unusual fun facts uncovered from your research?
Continuing your work as a team, create a Yellowstone exploration pamphlet for other young people lucky enough to visit the park. Be sure the guide offers tips on what to do and what not to do while visiting.
2. Readers learn that the Shoshone tribe, sometimes referred to as the Sheep Eaters, are native to the Yellowstone area. Using library resources, learn more about the Shoshone tribe and the Sheep Eater War in the 1800s, being sure to discover the following:
Why were the Shoshone tribe called Sheep Eaters?
What land did the Shoshone inhabit?
What was the outcome of the Sheep Eater War?
What did the US government do to tribal members?
Has the government provided any reparations for their actions?
Then engage in a class discussion about what you’ve learned; to add to your knowledge, select another Indigenous group of people in the US and learn more about the history of that tribe.
3. The Wildlife and Aquatic Resources Branch of the National Park Service is at the center of the conservation and preservation work highlighted in Bear Bottom. Using library resources and the Internet, research to learn more about the service’s essential work and the outcomes of their endeavors.
Be sure to learn the following:
What are the specific programs this branch oversees?
What makes each of these programs unique?
Who are other collaborators on these programs?
What are some of the biggest challenges faced?
After gathering this information, create a visual presentation that illustrates your findings.
4. While reading Bear Bottom, readers learn that scat, or animal droppings, can be used to identify animals as well as learn their habits and patterns. Begin by reading “How to Identify Wildlife” from the BBC’s Discover Wildlife: https://www.discoverwildlife.com/how-to/identify-wildlife/how-to-identify-animal-droppings/. After reading the article, look for additional information shared by US parks and zoos to learn more about ways scat is identified and tracked. Note the facts you find most interesting; after you’ve collected your “scoop on poop,” be sure to share your findings with others.
5. In Bear Bottom, readers learn about Yellowstone’s incredible geological features, including geysers like Old Faithful. Using library and Internet resources, research the following:
Where in Yellowstone is Old Faithful located?
When was it discovered and by whom?
What are the most unique features of this geyser?
How many geysers does Yellowstone have?
How is climate change threatening this natural splendor?
Taking what you’ve learned, discuss possible solutions and ways that students can actively help with climate change issues.
6. Readers learn that in the late 1800s there were sixty to eighty million bison in North America, but they were nearly wiped out in the space of a few decades by European settlers and the government’s campaign against Native Americans. Learn more about American bison using the following resources:
https://www.nwf.org/Educational-Resources/Wildlife-Guide/Mammals/American-Bison
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/facts/american-bison
After these readings, research more about today’s conservation efforts for the American bison. Using a digital product of choice, take the new knowledge you’ve gathered and create a visual that can be showcased and shared with others.
This guide was created by Dr. Rose Brock, an associate professor at Sam Houston State University. Dr. Brock holds a Ph.D. in Library Science, specializing in children’s and young adult literature.
This guide has been provided by Simon & Schuster for classroom, library, and reading group use. It may be reproduced in its entirety or excerpted for these purposes. For more Simon & Schuster guides and classroom materials, please visit simonandschuster.net or thebookpantry.net.