How Mama Sugar Bear came to be

I live in northern Michigan. In our little town there is a chocolate shop that's been around for 20 years, making delicious chocolates sourced from small family cacao farms in Ecuador. Last April a black bear was seen on security cameras to be nosing around the back of the shop for several nights. Then, one night, he managed to force the latched back door open. Within 20 seconds he absconded with a 50 pound bag of sugar, dragging it outside and eating the entire 50 pounds. He didn't disturb anything else in the shop. The owners reinforced then replaced the back door, but that bear was a local sensation. You can read about it by clicking on the links in my website!

While hiking Alligator Hill with my schnoodle a few days after this incident, a tale spun itself in my head. The bear would be a female, with two hungry cubs. She would not get trapped and relocated (as happened to the real bear) but instead would make friends with one of our local National Park rangers, who would ask her to get her food supplies from the wilds of Sleeping Bear National Lakeshore...thus allowing her to stay in our local forest with her two little ones.

I've always dreamed of writing children's books, and this sugar-loving black bear gave me just the inspiration to get me started!

Bear and bag of sugar, caught on camera!