This is a tale about a little grizzly cub named Boots. He is named for his muddy paws. His mother is concerned for his safety and once again cautions him to stay away from the riverbank. After all he has already injured his front paw from an accident that occurred there and his paw now dangles lifeless above the ground leaving him lame.

" I know, Mother" he grumbled. "How can I catch salmon if I don't go to the water? "

Downhearted from his Mother's lecture Boots leaves the den and walks along the river very careful not to get into it although everything inside of him wants to plunge in and go after those salmon. To his utter surprise he looks up and sees a goat tumbling down the jagged cliff that is right next to him and it lands on the ground with a loud thud. The poor goat cries out in pain. Ahhhh thinks Boots.... dinner for him and his Mother!

"Oh please, don't eat me!" the goat begs tearfully. Boots is reminded of his own accident."

What will he do? Should he ignore the plea for mercy and do what bears instinctively do? Will he take advantage of the sad injured goat to fill his belly?

The wise little goat makes a promise to Boots, one that Boots can't possibly refuse. The goat negotiates a deal that is a win-win scenario for both parties. Will Boots accept the offer, help the goat out and set him free? Can the goat be trusted he wonders? The surprise ending will delight the reader and inspire them. Boots discovers that his dreams and aspiration can come true!

The illustrations are well done, full of expression, emotion and action. I love the life lessons included in the story: listen and obey your elders and practise compassion and mercy to those who need help. I highly recommend this book.

It was a really cute book with adorable characters. It clearly taught that little guys need to listen to elders.....they know better most of the time. As a retired preschool teacher I do find the book a little rough for the targeted age group. The wording when bear hurt his paw "for his paws had been crushed like a bag of pretzels".....sounds like the original Brothers Grimm. Stick to the lesson of listen to your elders and it would be a solid 5*, the rest was unneeded horror for children (goat tumbling down jagged rocks.) I wouldn't read this to children.

Poor little grizzly bear! he didn't listen to his mother and went into the river alone and fell over a waterfall crippling his paw. Later he sees a mountain goat fall and injure it's leg. Working together to help each other comes at a cost to little bear. Goat promises to help him, but will he? The other bears threaten him for not bring goat home to be dinner! Kind of a long story for real littles, but I'm guessing 4 and up should enjoy this story. Just enough suspense to hold their interest.Good book for new readers, too. Illustrations were very nice!