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Search for the Golden Moon Bear (Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students K-12) ReviewI was a big big fan of Sy Montgomery's children's book, "The Tarantula Scientist", you know. Her insightful knowledge of just what kinds of details kids find exciting or interesting as regards huge hairy spiders was right on the money. The book was one of those tales that I find myself thrusting into the arms of already overburdened grade school teachers at the local library in which I work. So when I discovered that she had written ANOTHER non-fiction children's text in 2004, I snapped it up right quick. It looked great too. A whole big beautiful book about the discovery of what the author initially believes to be a brand new species of bear. What's not to like? But as I read the tale, I became increasingly disappointed. Montgomery is excellent at describing the different kinds of bears there are in the world and the techniques scientists use to identify new bears the world over. I liked the photographs and the wonderful information about the animals of Cambodia. But when it comes to some of the book's most basic details, Montgomery grows sloppy. She confuses the reader with vague terms and doesn't clarify why some discoveries are important and some merely interesting. I grew so confused while reading this book that I found myself wondering how the heck a kid was supposed to figure out whether the author was referring to one bear or another. Even the photographs remain uncaptioned, or captioned only randomly. Unlike her magnificent "Tarantula Scientist", this book is a mish-mash of poor editing. One suspects she merely took the adult version of it (which came out in 2002 and sports the same name) and winnowed it down for kids without taking much time to iron out the problems. The result is a book that could have been priceless and is, instead, merely okay.
The premise is very exciting. Sy Montgomery (who is such an essential player in this book that she never hesitates to place herself in the center of the action) was canoeing down the Amazon River with scientist Dr. Gary Galbreath when she first heard about the mythical golden moon bear he once saw. It was more than fifteen years ago in the little town of Yunnan that he saw a bear unlike any other ever found before. Though he was unable to find a match for it, and never returned to the region, he always dreamt of going back and finding the animal. When Galbreath's sighting is echoed by Montgomery's friend Sun Hean, the three decide to take a special trip to find the bear and get it down in the history books. You might expect the rest of the book to be an arduous retelling of how they finally found the elusive bear and plucked some hairs for reference, but actually they find one by page 29. Pages 30-77 are just follow-up as the crew finds more bears, plucks more hairs, and discovers some surprising facts about this little known animal.
The problem I had with the book began on page 12. It is here that Montgomery makes the very smart move of including a list of different bears around the world, along with photographs of each and every one. These eight species of bear include pandas, grizzlies, and sloth bears, as well as both sun AND moon bears. It was the moon bears that began my trouble. They're mentioned right at the start. Ursus thibetanus. The moon bear, we learn, has a crescent-moon-shaped patch of white on its chest. It lives in many parts of Asia and has been known to learn how to ride bikes and skates. Fair enough. The problem comes when Montgomery carries on with her story. Now you'll remember that this entire book is called, "Search For the Golden Moon Bear". Well, Montgomery becomes exceedingly sloppy after a while. Instead of referring to the bear she seeks as a "golden moon bear" she sometimes shortens it to just "moon bear". Of which, you'll recall, there is already a species. In fact, the book ALSO looks at real moon bears, so that you can never tell whether or not the bears being addressed are just your average already discovered "moon bears" or "golden moon bears". About pages 54-55 she so intertwines the two species that I couldn't for the life of me figure out what was going on. If Montgomery had even included a picture of an average moon bear in the aforementioned "eight species of bear" section, it would've been fine. But the moon bear is the only animal NOT included in that section (with the obvious exclusion of the golden moon bear as well).
It makes for infuriating reading. All the more so when you consider how interesting the book is in other portions. I loved the section on large mammals recently discovered in Cambodia. Montgomery does away with the myth that "everything has already been discovered". She mentions the fanged deer recently found and the rabbits striped like zebras (not shown in a photograph, unfortunately). She even talks about the Indochinese warty hog that was accidentally eaten by a team of scientists in 1995 and has yet to be photographed. Even the sections of this book that talk about DNA are fascinating. Sadly, whatever discoveries made are obscured by the lackadaisical names thrown hither and thither. I couldn't figure out what was going on by the end, and I'm certain that a ten-year-old in my shoes, however intelligent they might be, would feel the same.
The book is a perfect waste. There's so much good in it. So much worth reading up on. I mean, the world needs more fascinating scientific non-fiction books for kids. Especially ones that include so many female scientists. But when the writing suffers, the book suffers. So it is with a heavy heart that I tell you that this is not Montgomery's best. I suggest you seek out her "Tarantula Scientist" and read that instead. As for "Golden Moon Bear", my hope is that subsequent publications in the future will erase all the problems I've mentioned here and make the book the beautiful story it deserves to be. Otherwise, it's just not worth the price.
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