by Walt Morey, John Schoenherr
Mark has been lonely, especially since the death of his older brother. But soon Mark befriends Ben, a brown bear whose owner has not really taken care of him. Mark starts to spend time with Ben after school and feed him. If only Ben could be his, how Mark wishes Ben could be his. And one day Mark's ...
As a story, "Gentle Ben" is simply boring and poorly written. While it's 192 pages long, the middle 130 pages of the story are completely wasted. Only the first 30 pages, where Mark befriends a bear named "Gentle Ben", and the last 30 pages, where said bear rescues his father, have any impact on t...