Holt and the Teddy Bear

Do you know how the Teddy bear got its name? When Teddy Roosevelt decided that he wanted to go bear hunting in Mississippi, his friends knew that the only guide experienced enough to escort the president of the United States was Holt Collier, the son of slaves and the best bear hunter in the South. Holt vowed that he would find the president a bear, even if he had to “lasso one and tie it to a tree.” When the day of the big hunt arrived, Holt rounded up his best hunting dogs in preparation, and he and the president rode off in search of a great bear. But finding a bear wasn’t as easy as it usually was for Holt, and after losing the scent that the dogs had picked up, it looked as if there would be no locating a bear that day. Still determined to catch a bear for the president, Holt continued to hunt alone. When he heard his dogs baying in the distance, he used his hunter’s instinct to deduce where the bear would be. As he had promised, Holt caught the bear and tied it to a tree. President Roosevelt’s reaction caused such a stir that a newspaper reporter among the hunters wrote up a story about the president and the bear, a cartoonist who liked the story drew a picture of the bear, and the rest is history. A delightful adventure for children 8-12, this book is based on the true story of the origin of the Teddy bear.