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ABOUT THE BOOK
Award-winning inspirational author and poet, Douglas Lanzo, brings to life the legend of the Penobscot tribe of Maine and their close ties to the black bear through the eyes of Jason Wilson, a boy on the cusp of manhood during the 1980s. Thirteen-year-old Jason is on the cusp of manhood, striving to fi nd his place at school and at home—especially after his mother has abandoned them and his father is left to deal with his own anger. When Jason and his father encounter a bear while out hunting, they shoot and kill it, not realizing that they have left a cub without its mother. When Sasquot of the Penobscot Tribe, a part of the Bear Family, discovers what they have done, he decides that Jason needs a lesson in caring for God’s creatures. Thus begins a year that Jason will never forget as he begins to care and train the cub in order for it to survive. As Jason forms a bond with the bear, he, in turn, learns valuable lessons for life. “Fans of classic, enthralling adventure (and I’m one) are in for a rare treat,” said Josh Lieb, New York Times best-selling and Emmy Award-winning author of I am a Genuis of Unspeakable Evil and I Want to Be Your Class President. Reminiscent of classic novels such as My Side of the Mountain and Call of the Wild, The Year of the Bear is a story that will delight and educate readers as they learn about the Native American culture, black bears, and the rugged woods of rural Maine.ABOUT THE AUTHOR
An award-winning and inspirational author featured in WestWard Quarterly’s Winter 2021 issue and published in three of Vita Brevis Press’ bestselling poetry anthologies in 2021 and 2022 as well as in Cafe Haiku’s Fifth Poetry Anthology sharing my solitude, since 2020 Douglas’ poetry has found homes in fi fty literary publications across the U.S., Canada, England, Wales, Austria, Mauritius, India, Japan, Australia, and The Caribbean. A graduate of Harvard College and Law School, where Douglas enjoyed writing editorials for The Harvard Crimson and articles for various other campus publications, he has published professional legal articles throughout his career. A General Counsel by day and writer by night, Douglas resides in Chevy Chase, Maryland, with his wife and thirteen-year-old identical twin boys, fellow internationally published poets, enjoying nature, traveling, biking, tennis, and chess.
MY REVIEW/OPINION
I absolutely loved this book. It has all the aspects of what makes a very exciting and heartwarming story. It's beautifully written with the characters being relatable, the description of the them are detailed and without wanting. There is a lot of helpful and insightful information of the Penobscot Tribe, and how they lived, how they perceive nature as friend instead of foe, and of course the strong bond that they share with the black bear. The reader is swept up in Jason's journey to manhood, by learning how to feed, train and eventually letting go of the cub, what they must eat, how they hunt, everything that a sow would teach her cub in order to survive in the wild, is now up to Sasquot and Jason to make sure he is prepared for all aspects of what it is to be a black bear.
What I loved about this story is how Sasquot imparts his wisdom and faith with his young mentor and friend. He teaches him how to confront and work through the many obstacles that this young boy must face and endure, such as being bullied at school, his mother leaving and dealing with the ugliness of racism for associating with Sasquot and his family, and of course, to respect and love nature in all her beauty and harshness. I truly loved this whole story from beginning to end, not a moment was dull or overly dramatized, detailed with perfect clarity and vividness. I have new-found respect for native Americans and their great wisdom and love they have with for nature, the world could use that wisdom right about now, and of course, a new respect and love for the beautiful black bear.
