Eye of the Great Bear

"A surefire winner of a tale... The author has created characters whom readers come to know and care about. He has spun a story filled with small escapades interspersed with heart-stopping excitement and terror".-- School Library Journal

FACE TO FACE WITH FEAR....The bullies called him coward. Even his brothers thought eleven-year-old Bailey Trumbull was scared of his own shadow. Exploding firecrackers sent him jumping as high as a kite. He hated July 4th. But it was on that day at a carnival in Abilene that an old Indian medicine man made an astonishing prophecy: "Some men spend their lives searching for who they are -- searching for their courage. You will see yourself in the eye of the great bear".
What did he mean? Bailey nearly forgot the prophecy when Daddy got heatsickness and the family had to move to Montana. Suddenly everything became topsy-turvy. Bailey's whole life changed except the bullies and the "sissy" reputation that followed wherever he went. Until the day the medicine man's prophecy came true and Bailey had to make a choice that risked his life....

In this turn-of-the-century Western adventure, a twelve-year-old boy with the reputation of a coward is cured of his fears after he faces a grizzly to save his little sister.

Bill Wallace grew up in Oklahoma. Along with riding their horses, he and his friends enjoyed campouts and fishing trips. Toasting marshmallows, telling ghost stories to scare one another, and catching fish was always fun. One of the most memorable trips took place on the far side of Lake Lawtonka, at the base of Mt. Scott. He and his best friend, Gary, spent the day shooting shad with bow and arrows, cutting bank poles, and getting ready to go when their dads got home from work. Although there was no "monster" in Lake Lawtonka, one night there was a "sneak attack" by a rather large catfish tail. Checking the bank poles was not nearly as fun or "free" after that point, but it was the inspiration for this story. Bill Wallace has won nineteen children's state awards and been awarded the Arrell Gibson Lifetime Achievement Award for Children's Literature from the Oklahoma Center for the Book.