40 Fun Facts About I Survived the Attack of the Grizzlies, 1967

In I Survived the Attack of the Grizzlies, how did Mel's mother die the December before the trip to Glacier?

A car accident on an icy road killed her while she was driving Mel to a friend's house for a sleepover.

In which state is Glacier National Park, where Mel's family stays each summer in I Survived the Attack of the Grizzlies?

Montana holds the park right on the Canadian border, where it joins Waterton Lakes to form the world's first International Peace Park.

In I Survived the Attack of the Grizzlies, why does Granite Park Chalet's staff lure bears to its dump every night?

As a show for tourists, the bears draw people onto the porch at dark to watch them feed, and manager Greg insists the rangers know all about it.

In I Survived the Attack of the Grizzlies, which small animal, as scared as the bear, helps save Mel at the chalet?

A porcupine turns up during the attack, and a story told early in the book has already shown readers how sharp and painful its quills are.

In I Survived the Attack of the Grizzlies, how does Mel first try to escape the bear near the chalet's dump?

Climb a tree is her choice because most grizzlies will not follow, but a branch snaps and drops her right in front of the bear.

In I Survived the Attack of the Grizzlies, what does Mel smell on the breath of the bear at the cabin door?

Rotting meat and vomit on its breath is the first clue that the bear has been eating things no wild grizzly should, a hint of what is happening up at the chalet.

After the real 1967 attacks in Glacier National Park, what was found lodged in one killer grizzly's mouth?

Glass was lodged in the mouth of an emaciated bear that had spent the summer raiding people's trash before it killed a camper.

Which body feature, built from digging muscle, tells a grizzly from a black bear in Glacier National Park?

A shoulder hump marks the powerful muscles a grizzly uses with its long claws to dig up roots and glacier lilies; black bears lack it.

In I Survived the Attack of the Grizzlies, what does Mel do when she comes upon a grizzly outside the cabin?

Walks backward slowly, eyes fixed on the ground, is how Mel reaches the cabin, and it matches Glacier's own rule for meeting a bear: never run.

Which magazine first published Jack Olsen's account of the 1967 Glacier National Park grizzly attacks in three parts?

Sports Illustrated ran it in 1969 as The Grizzly Bear Murder Case, and the title of the book version, Night of the Grizzlies, became the popular name for the tragedy.

In I Survived the Attack of the Grizzlies, which younger brother of Mel keeps asking about the park's fiercest animals?

Kevin shares the cabin trip with Mel, and his eager questions about the most dangerous animals in the park come in the book's opening pages.

In I Survived the Attack of the Grizzlies, what do Mel and her brother call their grandfather at the cabin?

Pops, like Mel's mother, believes the wilderness belongs to the animals and that humans are only guests there.

In I Survived the Attack of the Grizzlies, Mel Vega's nickname is short for which first name?

Melody Vega is eleven in the summer of the story, and her family has come to Glacier National Park every year.

In I Survived the Attack of the Grizzlies, which part of Mel's body do the bear's claws tear into?

Her leg is slashed in a scene the book uses as its opening teaser, before the story goes on to explain how she got there.

In I Survived the Attack of the Grizzlies, what job lets Aunt Cassie tell the whole country about the bears?

A journalist with millions of readers, Aunt Cassie writes an article for a national magazine that pushes the park into strict new rules on trash.

In I Survived the Attack of the Grizzlies, Steve, who hikes to the chalet with Mel, works as what?

A wildlife scientist who knows grizzlies well, Steve has heard rumors about the chalet and wants to find out what the trash is doing to the bears.

In I Survived the Attack of the Grizzlies, which nickname does a park volunteer use for the bear that struck the cabin?

Old Slim is harmless, the man insists, and because he is only a volunteer and not a real ranger, Mel's warning goes nowhere.

In I Survived the Attack of the Grizzlies, what are hikers at the chalet shining at the bear that corners Mel?

Flashlights from the watching hikers only make things worse, and Mel, in flip-flops with no pack, knows she cannot safely drop and play dead.

In I Survived the Attack of the Grizzlies, what is the first thing Mel grabs as a weapon against the bear?

A little stick sounds like a hopeless weapon against a grizzly, yet Mel uses it wisely and it helps save her life.

Which sing-along song at the chalet sends Mel running outside in I Survived the Attack of the Grizzlies?

Row, Row, Row Your Boat is the song Mel was singing with her mother shortly before she lost her, so she bolts into the dark without noticing where she is.

In I Survived the Attack of the Grizzlies, in which home state does Mel's father stay behind because of work?

Wisconsin is where her father remains because he cannot miss any more work, one reason Mel says nothing feels normal about this summer's trip.

In I Survived the Attack of the Grizzlies, what are Glacier's rangers more worried about than bears, Mel is told?

Forest fires have the rangers' attention, a sign to Mel of how poorly the park's staff understand the danger of bears getting close to people.

In I Survived the Attack of the Grizzlies, what does chalet manager Greg call the practice of feeding the bears?

A tradition is Greg's word for it: he says the feeding has gone on for years and that the chalet has nowhere else to put its leftovers.

In I Survived the Attack of the Grizzlies, which fierce animal is described as looking like a small bear?

A wolverine is really the largest land member of the weasel family, and its strong scent has earned it the nickname skunk bear.

In I Survived the Attack of the Grizzlies, which sign means that a bear is charging for real instead of bluffing?

Its ears are pinned back, it makes no sound and it does not stop; a bluffing bear is noisy and pulls up short because it only wants to scare its target.

In I Survived the Attack of the Grizzlies, Mel learns that which body part reveals a bear's age?

Its teeth give a bear's age away, a lesson from the hike when Mel and her mother came across a dead grizzly; she also learned its jaw muscles can bite through metal.

The closing pages of I Survived the Attack of the Grizzlies urge readers to use less of which material?

Plastic ends up in the wilderness and the ocean, where animals can eat it by mistake, so the book suggests skipping store bags and bottled water.

In I Survived the Attack of the Grizzlies, which feeling about her mother's death does Aunt Cassie help Mel let go of?

Guilt weighs on Mel until Aunt Cassie tells her that neither the grizzly attack nor her mother's death was her fault, and that her mother would be mad at her for blaming herself.

In I Survived the Attack of the Grizzlies, how is Aunt Cassie, who hikes to the chalet, tied to Mel's family?

Her mother's friend, Aunt Cassie joins Mel and Steve on the hike up to investigate Granite Park Chalet.

In which format, with art by Berat Pekmezci, was I Survived the Attack of the Grizzlies retold in 2022?

A graphic novel version, adapted by Georgia Ball, arrived four years after the original chapter book and is the fifth I Survived title in that format.

Which author, a longtime editor of Storyworks magazine, wrote I Survived the Attack of the Grizzlies, 1967?

Lauren Tarshis launched the I Survived series in 2010 with a story about the sinking of the Titanic, and the grizzly book is its 17th entry.

In I Survived the Attack of the Grizzlies, what do rangers do to the bears after two young campers are killed?

Hunt and shoot them was the real order in 1967, and four bears were dead within two days, a response many experts now question because people's leftovers had made the bears sick.

Which change did Glacier National Park make after the real 1967 grizzly attacks, to keep bears away from campers?

Bear-proof garbage cans arrived along with cables for hanging food, cooking areas set apart from sleeping areas, and permits to limit how many people camp.

Which deterrent do Glacier National Park's rangers call the most effective way to stop a charging bear?

Pepper spray made for bears is aimed at the face of an oncoming animal, and it should never be sprayed on a camp or gear, where the smell may attract bears instead.

On the real 1967 night, one grizzly killed near Granite Park Chalet; where in Glacier did another strike?

Trout Lake was the second site, about four hours after the first attack; the victim's sleeping-bag zipper stuck as the other four campers got away.

In I Survived the Attack of the Grizzlies, how do Glacier's rangers usually deal with a problem bear?

Trap it and move it: the baited trailer is driven deep into the wilds of the park, where the bear is set free far from people.

Which animal, not the grizzly, is the official symbol of Glacier National Park?

Mountain goat is the park's emblem, though the animal is not a true goat at all: its closest relatives are goat-antelopes such as the chamois.

Which weather on the night of the 1967 Glacier National Park attacks did some people believe had agitated the grizzlies?

Lightning lit the sky on the night of August 12 to 13, though other experts guessed the bears had mistaken sleeping bags for food containers.

Which publisher, famous for its school book fairs, released I Survived the Attack of the Grizzlies in 2018?

Scholastic publishes the I Survived series, which has since been translated into languages including Chinese, Korean and Swedish.

The grizzly's scientific name, Ursus arctos horribilis, marks it as a North American form of which species?

Brown bear is the species, Ursus arctos, which also lives across Europe and Asia; the grizzly is its North American population.