Book Giveaway: EAT UP, BEAR by Terry Pierce

Terry Pierce has written a new board book, EAT UP, BEAR illustrated by Nadja Sarell and published by Yosemite Conservancy. It is available in bookstores on April 6th. Terry has agreed to share a copy with one lucky winner living in the United States.

All you have to do to get in the running is leave a comment. Reblog, tweet, or talk about it on Facebook with a link and you will get additional chances to win. Just let me know other things you do to share the good news, so I can put the right amount of tickets in my basket for you.

Sharing on Facebook, Twitter or reblogging really helps spread the word for a new book. So, thanks for helping Terry and Nadja.

If you have signed up to follow my blog and it is delivered to you everyday, please let me know when you leave a comment and I will give you an extra ticket. Thanks!

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

“A great introduction to enjoying nature without disturbing its rhythms.” —Foreword Reviews

Curious, hungry black bears just want to eat! Juicy berries, crunchy nuts, tender grubs, sticky honey—that’s good bear food. But if little park visitors and their families don’t watch out, their food will be bear food, too! The bouncy rhyming text and vibrant pictures in this board book show how people of all ages can help keep bears safe and thriving.

BOOK JOURNEY:

Eat Up, Bear! has had a journey that’s close to my heart. In 2018, my mom had passed away, and soon after my dad was put into hospice care. He lived in a facility where I went every day to oversee his care and keep him company. I told my agent at the time I wanted to continue writing, if for nothing else to occupy my mind. Knowing my love of nature and animals, she sent me a board book call out from Yosemite Conservancy. When I read their goal to “create books…that will inspire the next generation of stewards of our public lands,” I thought of bears.

I’ve hiked and backpacked all my life, having had many black bear encounters (such fascinating, curious creatures!). I also live in a mountain community where the town’s wildlife management expert Steve Searles has taught us how to coexist with bears through proper food storage. For years, I’ve admired Steve’s excellent work and advocacy for bears. So, when I thought about writing a book about being good stewards to these magnificent animals, I knew the focus would be proper food storage, which I’d never seen tackled in a children’s book.

As I sat in with my dad that late spring, I worked on the manuscript; storyboarding, tinkering with the rhythm, rhyme, and repetition. I shared multiple drafts with my writing group, trying to find the sweet spot between entertainment and education. When I felt the manuscript was ready to submit, I sent it to my agent.

We waited for a few weeks to hear a response. During that time, in early summer, my dad passed away and life shifted under my feet as it does when one loses a parent. Life was so different, and I often retreated to the woods to write. One August day, while hiking alone, I even had a lovely bear encounter, which I took as a good sign of what was to come! A few days later, we received an R and R (revise and resubmit) request. ​​For the next few weeks,​ ​I worked with my editor, the incredible Nicole Geiger, and the Yosemite Conservancy staff​,​ exchanging revised drafts, massaging the manuscript to a place we liked.

The following February, we received an offer! What a “heart project” this was for me! I love Yosemite National Park. Its awesome beauty​ takes my breath away. When I found out our illustrator would be Nadja Sarell, I knew she would be perfect for the book. And when I saw her initial illustrations I just about jumped for joy—bright, saturated colors with adorable humans and bears set against nature’s backdrop. And the cover! Oh, that cover. Who can resist that adorable bright-eyed bear with its mouth full of berries?

But before we completed the final text and art, there was much collaboration with the Yosemite Conservancy’s partner, the National Park Service. Because the text was so sparse (as is typical in a board book), we relied upon the illustrations to convey much information—animal species, accurate food sources for bears, fauna details. The NPS experts and Yosemite Conservancy worked with us to strive for biological accuracy. The text also underwent additional revisions to portray the food storage rules in Yosemite National Park.

Our goal is for the book to entertain and educate little campers everywhere, and show how families can do their part to help keep bears wild by storing food properly (and keep humans and bears safe!). But for me, I’ll also think of my dad and all those amazing bear encounters I’ve had in my life—two things I treasure.

The official release date is April 13, 2021, but  Eat Up, Bear! is on sale now at the Yosemite Conservancy’s store: https://shop.yosemite.org/products/eat-up-bear.

TERRY’S BIO:

TERRY PIERCE is the author of twenty-five children’s books, including Love Can Come in Many Ways, Soccer Time, Mama Loves You So, and My Busy Green Garden.

She holds a B.A. degree in Early Childhood Development and an International A.M.I. Montessori teaching diploma. She was a Montessori teacher for twenty-two years before deciding to follow her dream of writing for children. Terry holds an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts, including the Picture Book Concentration certification. She now writes full-time and teaches Picture Book Writing for the UCLA Extension Writers’ Program.

Terry lives in the high Sierra town of Mammoth Lakes, CA, where nature inspires her writing. She lives with her husband and is a servant to two lovable cats.

She’s looking forward to the release off her next easy reader, ¡Hora del fútbol! (Soccer Time! Spanish edition, Random House) on July 6, 2021. Please visit her at https://www.terrypiercebooks.com.

Terry is an outdoor enthusiast, enjoying backpacking, hiking, rock climbing, and, of course, bear sightings near her home in Mammoth Lakes, California.

NADJA’S BIO:

​Nadja is a freelance illustrator from Helsinki, Finland.

I graduated in 2004 from North Wales School of Art and Design with BA (1st class Hons) in Illustration for Children’s Publishing. Before my illustration studies I graduated as a dancer with MA in Dance from Theatre Academy in Helsinki. She works mainly for the children’s book publishers in Finland and abroad. Her passion is to create illustrations for children’s picture books, and loves working on chapter books and non-fiction books. She also create surface patterns and card designs for licensing. Currently she works through my lovely agents at Astound for commissions outside Scandinavia.

Nadja loves to teach art, dance and narrative illustration to both children and adults.

Nadja Sarell – Photo by Linda Manner

Nadja is the illustrator behind The One and Only Wolfgang, written by Instagram sensation Steve Greig aka @wolfgang2242 and author Mary Rand Hess, and the Frankie Sparks, Third Grade Inventor series.

Terry, thank you for sharing your book and journey with us. You certainly achieved your goal to entertain and educate little campers and their families on how to enjoy the wilderness, while keeping everyone safe, inlcuding the bears. I love the color illustrations that Nadja did for the book. I know everyone will love this book. Good luck!

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy