Bearville The Mystery Of The Bee Thief: Bearville, #1

By Swetha Sundaram

Mitsy, Ted and Bertie befriend the Panda Cubs who are being bullied in school.
Things begin to happen during the school year when there is a series of bee theft from the apiaries.
The five cubs find themselves in the middle of an adventure when they investigate the mysterious disappearance of the bees from the hives.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Swetha Sundaram
• Release date: Mar 25, 2018
• ISBN: 9789781975639

Swetha Sundaram

Swetha Sundaram lives in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. She is an Instrumentation and Controls Engineer working in Calgary. She graduated from B.S. in Engineering Honours Program from University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada. She writes on a variety of subjects; some of the topics include, Sri Vaishnavism, health & diet, history and children’s books. She believes in promoting love and equality. She has travelled to many countries and has lived in many different countries. Apart from writing, her hobbies also include sketching, gardening and reading.

Book preview

The City Of Bearville

When we travel on the highway from Banff to Yoho National  Park, at the point where the highway enters through  the mountain pass beyond which lies the Canadian province  of British Columbia, if one where to get off their vehicle  and hike up the mountain lying towards the right hand side of the highway, one may come across the waterfalls which hides the entrance to Bearville . I say that one may come across the waterfalls and not that one would come across because the entrance is guarded by the spirit of the mountain.

If one were to be allowed by the spirits to view the cascade falls and walk through the watery curtain which hides the small tunnel, they would enter Bearville.

What's so special about Bearville, you may ask me. This is where all the bears from around the world have their residence. Before you tell me that it's impossible for a  polar bear, grizzly, brown , black, and Himalayan bears  to  all have their residence in one place, I must tell you that these are not ordinary bears you would see in the zoo or while hiking through the national /provincial parks. These are special bears. They are civilized, talking bears who have built beautiful houses in Bearville and live in harmony with each other. Human beings can't enter Bearville and neither can the ordinary bears and ordinary forest creatures. Then, how do I know about Bearville you ask me? Well, that's a long story for another day.

Bearville is nestled in the Canadian Rockies hidden from common eyes. It is an area developed by the bears. They have made beautiful dens on the side of the mountain. The dens have windows, doors and even furniture!

There are many secret bear cities around the world just like Bearville. The bears travel through secret tunnels in the mountains across the continents of North and South America. If a bear wished to travel to the Himalayas, he or she would travel through the secret tunnels in the Canadian Rockies and arrive at the northern most exits near the Artic Sea. The polar bears would then ferry the bears across to Europe, from where the bears will once again take secret tunnels and arrive at the Himalayan bear city. They could travel outside the tunnels through forested regions but, they prefer to travel by the secret tunnels in order to avoid encountering humans and normal wildlife.

In the middle of Bearville is the town square. The centre of attraction of the square is a large clock which works on the same principle as a sundial but, this is a curious clock because on its face are marked the months of the year. The bears (they do share some biological traits with the common bears) like to sleep from December to March. In March, when all the population of Bearville wakes up, there is a big celebration to welcome spring.

The bear cubs attend school where they undergo vocational training. The schools are called, Cub Scout Training Schools. The bears learn things like apiculture, fishing, wilderness training, and special program called surviving the arctic. Of course, they also learn arithmetic, science and astronomy. Not even bears can escape Math!

There are also other magical animals which live in Bearville though the majority of the population is bears. Suparna the Bald Eagle is in charge of security. It is his responsibility to keep an eye on the security of Bearville and to ensure that non magical bears and humans do not enter its limits.

Tommy the grey jay delivers the newsletters while the mail is delivered by a group of pigeons. The bears make paper from vegetables at home; they use potatoes mostly unless they want coloured paper in which case they would use carrots, berries , red cabbage or spinach. They use a wooden pen with a wooden nib for writing. They make ink from berry juice. So, if the cubs are very hungry, they can eat their homework!  Willy Woodpecker is hired by the bears to make intricate carvings in their wooden furniture.

Most importantly, I must introduce you to the three little bear cubs, the main characters in our story. Bertie is a grizzly bear cub. He attends the Cub Scout training school with his friends; Mitsy  the little black bear cub, Ted the brown bear cub (he hates to be called as Teddy!)  The three little cubs often get into exciting adventures and solve mysteries. Go ahead, flip the page so that we can read about their first mystery; the mystery of the bee thief.

New  Students

On a beautiful, bright sunny day, Bertie was sitting in his apiculture class. Miss Bernice was teaching them about the different types of bees. Bertie felt bored. Frankly, he didn't Care about apiculture. He would rather become a fishing bear when he grew up and spend his time swimming in the streams in search of salmon. He glanced at Mitsy. She was busy taking notes. He looked at the faces of each of his classmates. Most of them seemed bored. Bertie looked at Ted who was a back bencher; he had dozed off. Bertie looked at the clock in the class room and sighed. They had to endure the buzz for another quarter of an hour.

'Miss Bernice,'

'Bertie sat up straight. The assistant principal Mr. Blue was standing at the door.

'Sorry to interrupt you but you have two new students.'

‘This late in the year?' asked Miss Bernice.

All the bear cubs sat up straight.

‘They are transfer students. Their father is a diplomat and he is stationed in Bearville. '

'Where are the cubs? Come on, let's not keep them waiting.'

Mr. Blue stepped aside and to the surprise of the class, two little bear cubs who were neither white nor black stepped into the class. Patches of their fur were white while they also exhibited some black patches.

'What are they?' asked Peggy.

McKay the brown bear, who was also the class bully, sniggered.

‘They are little Panda Bear cubs from China.’ explained Mr. Blue. ‘I will leave them in your custody. Good afternoon,' said Mr. Blue and left the class.

'Come in dears,' welcomed Ms. Bernice.  ‘Introduce yourself to the class.'

'My name is Jia Pan-Pan,' said the male Panda cub. 'This is my sister....'

'Jia Yeu-Yeu...' interrupted his sister but stopped when McKay burst out laughing.

'Mr. McKay!' called Ms. Bernice sternly.  'Pray share with us what’s so amusing! '

'Pan-Pan and Yeu-Yeu. ..' he laughed. ‘Eww.Eww!’

'I am sure that they think your name is funny too! If you don't behave, I will give you detention!’ threatened Ms. Bernice. ‘Now,' said Ms. Bernice to the Pandas. 'Welcome to Bearville.' She then turned to address the class. 'Who will volunteer to help the Pandas?'

'I will.’ jumped Bertie. He was feeling irritated with McKay. 'They can sit next to me,' he offered.

'Thank you Bertie,' said Ms. Bernice.

Bertie was glad when the class ended in five minutes.  Ms. Bernice dispersed the class after giving them their homework assignment. They had to choose an apiary and spend a month observing bee-keeping. Their reports were due at the end of the month.

As it was their last class for the day, Bertie decided to take the Pandas around Bearville. As soon as they walked out of the class, Mitsy and Ted rushed over to them. They were soon surrounded by most of their classmates.

‘Why do you look half and halfs?’asked Peggy a black bear cub.

‘Is it deficiency?’ asked Murray. ‘My mom