Cover Collage: Covers brought to Bear

This month, it became clear that Marian Engel’s 1976 novel, Bear, is still very much in the Canadian cultural consciousness. After being told we “had some explaining to do” on Tumblr and that one Canadian literary trope is “A Woman Has Sex With a Bear or a Unicorn And No One Thinks This Is Particularly Odd” on the Toast Collective, we thought a round-up of our own Bear-adorned covers would be appropriate for this edition of cover collage.
Apologies to those hoping for it – there is zero-to-minimal bearotica in these titles.

Valery the Great by Elaine McCluskey (Anvil Press)

The (athletic) bear: Valery, a hockey-playing bear, described by his trainer as “an athlete made of silk, beautiful in both his intense strength and delicacy.”

Angel & the Bear by Brian Charleton (Brick Books)

The (figurative?) bear: A pinball wizard stars in this urban romance, set where the blues meet jazz in London, Ontario’s historic York Hotel.

Summer of the Dancing Bear by Bianca Lakoseljac (Guernica Editions)

The (quick-stepping) bear: Set in 1960’s Yugoslavia, this novel concerns the rite of passage of 14-year-old Kata, exploring her search for a viable identity, acceptance of death, and understanding of love. Kata forms a friendship with a group of gypsies who arrive at the town with a dancing bear.

Mayuk the Grizzly Bear: A Legend of the Sechelt Nation by The Sechelt Nation, with illustrations from Charlie Craigan (Nightwood Editions)

The (strong) bear: Mayuk was a bear who was bested by three brothers. One brother was injured in their quarrel, and named his grandson Mayuk to celebrate his own survival and honour the strength of the animal he fought.

Lutz by Ryan Griffith (Playwrights Canada Press)

The (deadly) bear: After a tremendous upset at the Olympics, figure skater Christian Miller decides it’s time to go back home. Casting aside his figure-skating training, he heads to his family house in the backwoods of New Brunswick and hopes to reconnect with his remaining sibling, his brother Pike. Their sister had been killed when they were younger, possibly by a bear.

Night by Christopher Morris (Playwrights Canada Press)

The (uninvited) bear: The lives of a Toronto anthropologist and a sixteen-year-old Inuk girl intersect during twenty-four hours of darkness in Pond Inlet, Nunavut. The community has to rally when a polar bear wanders into town.

If it’s No Trouble… a Big Polar Bear by Lisa Dalrymple, illustrations by Elizabeth Pratt (Creative Book Publishing)

The (gift-worthy) bear: In this children’s book, Natalie’s Christmas list contains: “a remote control scooter, some candy to share and, if it’s no trouble, a big polar bear.”

When Fenelon Falls by Dorothy Ellen Parker (Coach House Books)

The (trapped) bear: The primary goal of 14-year old protagonist Jordan is the rescue of Yogi, a buttertart-loving caged bear, from her bear-baiting cousin Derwood.