The Last Bit Bear: A Fable

Abstract

Curious things happen in the history of publishing. Here a book has a twentieth anniversary printing and reveals some things as a byproduct. The title has changed from "Bit-Bear" with a hyphen to a "Bit Bear" without the hyphen. But the hyphen remains in the text of the story itself. Both author and illustrator have changed their names, presumably by marriage. The story remains the same eloquent story I wrote about a long time ago when I wrote that it is an engaging story. Clover, a bit-bear, munches on moak leaves. The fish, the rat, the wolf, Numa the whale, and the scientist's son help Clover search for a mate. This ecological tale is heavy against the "other animal," humans, and ends sadly: Clover is the last bit-bear and never finds a mate. Clover is very well drawn; he resembles Chewbacca from Star Wars. A good example of the contemporary fashionable sense of "fable."