Rudy Visits the North

William Blackburn is a professor of English at the University of
Calgary.

This is a cautionary tale manqué. Rudy is a young bear who lives in
Pennsylvania. Bored at the prospect of squandering winter in
hibernation, he craves adventure, and, despite his friends’ warnings,
decides to trek up to Hudson Bay to visit his cousins. After a series of
minor mishaps and trifling misadventures, he does just that.

While using the familiar device of the circular journey, Rudy Visits
the North eschews the elements of real danger that are commonly found in
the best treatments of that journey. Throughout Rudy’s travels, he
meets only good animals, and has only good experiences (and ends up all
safe at Yellowstone National Park). This is a sunny little book; it
validates the natural curiosity of the child, and the splendid
illustrations by Muriel Hope add much to its aura of cheerfulness.
Adults living in the real world may well question the book’s basic
premise of a risk-free world; but all except the most curmudgeonly will
surely find something to praise.