Larson seems to take particular delight in how his bear characters react to humans.

Reversing the ordinary roles of "hunter" and "prey" is only to be expected. The bears start out with a field guide to humans, grin over a fisherman and several jars of tartar sauce, and wait patiently to see what will emerge from a car that has sunk into a pond. Although there are no references to the bears in the text, they are drawn as supporting characters in the story. By-their presence, the bears provide a context to show that this story is very clearly not told from a human viewpoint.

Other characters interact in ways that show Larson's awareness of how social interactions can affect individuals in their communities. The gray squirrels shown shaking down a timid little red squirrel for his acorns illustrate that we cannot judge characters (and by...