Big Jinny: The Story of a Grizzly Bear

Bears are commonly misquoted. That’s what author Frank B. Linderman concluded after spending most of his life in the wild. In Big Jinny Linderman lets a little grizzly cub speak for herself, and Jinny has plenty to say. This is Jinny’s story about growing up in the Montana wilderness, where every day promises adventure, mischief–and danger. She and her brother cub, Jim, learn from their mother about eating, playing, avoiding certain animals–and, most important of all, minding their own business. But when Jinny wakes up from her first hibernation, curiosity tempts her to ignore this most important lesson and travel far from home, minding everybody else’s business while learning a few new lessons about what it is to be a grizzly bear. Big Jinny’s story, steeped in nature lore and illustrated with Elizabeth Lochrie’s lush watercolors, leads readers young and old on an enchanting adventure through the wilds of western America even as they learn, with Jinny, how grizzlies really live. Frank B. Linderman (1869-1938) is the highly acclaimed author of many books, including Indian Why Stories and Old Man Coyote, both available in Bison Books editions. Elizabeth Lochrie (1890-1981) specialized in Native American portraits and created murals for hospitals and public buildings, including eighteen children’s murals for the Montana State Hospital. Sarah Waller Hatfield is the granddaughter of Linderman.