Next Big Thing Blog Tour: Wild About Bears

The Next Big Thing Blog Tour has been visiting with authors and illustrators around the world. Enjoy the tour!

Thank you Michelle for tagging me! Please find Michelle and her fabulous books at www.michelledwards.com

Where did the idea come from for this book?
I am WILD about all animals and enjoy researching and learning about them.  Bears are on the short http://billhobbs.com/ list of my favorites.  Bears are powerful, smart, curious and comical, all rolled into one big beautiful (and FURRY) animal.  I wanted to learn a lot more about bears and share my love and respect for them through my book.

What genre does your book fall under?
Wild About Bears is a non-fiction picture book.

What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?
Actor Big Bart would play Brown bear. Little Bart and Honey Bump would play two of the siblings for the Grizzly bear family.

Here is Bart:

Here is Little Bart and Honey Bump:

What is a one-sentence synopsis of your book?
Take a bear-by-bear journey to discover the world’s eight bear species and their habitats in this non-fiction picture book.

Who is publishing your book?
Charlesbridge Publishing

How long did it take to write and illustrate this book?
I have been working on the concept, text and illustrations for Wild About Bears for about 4 years and intensely for the past year.

Who or what inspired you to write this book? 
My husband and I and our three children took a trip to Yellowstone and Glacier National Park about 10 years ago.  Park rangers, our guides and everyone in between, told us that the chances of seeing a bear were next to nil.  We saw 3 black Black bears and 2 Grizzly bears on that trip.  One was a close encounter.  We then referred to ourselves as “the bear magnets”.