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The Growly Trilogy
Haven
Haven is a stand-alone book that tells what happened while Growly was away and sets the stage for the next part of the story.
Nestled high on the cliffs of Mount Hegel, the village of Haven has remained quiet and unchanged for hundreds of years. But with strange sightings across the Great River, a wild summer storm, and Growly gone missing, the bears of Haven are now faced with challenges they have never known before. For Ember, an orphaned cub raised by the librarian Merridy, it will be a time of finding out what it means to be brave and of discovering what it is that makes Haven a home.
Nestled high on the cliffs of Mount Hegel, the village of Haven has remained quiet and unchanged for hundreds of years. But with strange sightings across the Great River, a wild summer storm, and Growly gone missing, the bears of Haven are now faced with challenges they have never known before. For Ember, an orphaned cub raised by the librarian Merridy, it will be a time of finding out what it means to be brave and of discovering what it is that makes Haven a home.
262 pages, Paperback
Published May 21, 2016
23 people are currently reading
139 people want to read
About the author
Philip Ulrich
9 books13 followersPhilip and Erin Ulrich live in South Carolina with their two daughters. They enjoy adventures in the wild, as long as they can be home in time for dinner. Being Australian, Phil probably has natural-born abilities to hunt and wrestle dangerous creatures. He has used these natural abilities to finish in the top four in family balloon volleyball. An avid reader at heart, Erin loves to sit with a warm cup of coffee on a comfy chair and wishes these amenities were easier to find in the wild.
When they aren't writing stories, Phil & Erin run their own business, Design by Insight (designbyinsight.net), a website and book design company. Erin is also the author of Self-Publish: Moving from Idea to Product. Phil and Erin are currently at work on the continuing adventures of Growly.
When they aren't writing stories, Phil & Erin run their own business, Design by Insight (designbyinsight.net), a website and book design company. Erin is also the author of Self-Publish: Moving from Idea to Product. Phil and Erin are currently at work on the continuing adventures of Growly.
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
January 30, 2020
We enjoyed this one and hearing about what was going on in Haven during the events of the three Growly books. But not much really happens until the end. I did love getting to see the reunions at the end, but I would have liked things to wrap up better. Like will Chippy ever get back down the precipice? And where did Ember come from?
And I was VERY irritated that they talk a lot about maybe seeing something on the other side of the river but then don’t ever do anything with it. There’s literally a chapter near the end called, “What’s on the Other Side of the River” and the answer is... who knows? Ugh. It’s like they wanted a little set-up for another book (which I’d welcome) but nothing new has been written since 2016.
As far as the editing problems of the Growly books go, this one was full of errors again, maybe the worst. I found 14 basic errors—misspellings, duplicate words, typos, etc. That’s not a small amount. And I didn’t even count the inconsistent punctuation issues.
An enjoyable read but not really a must-read for the series.
And I was VERY irritated that they talk a lot about maybe seeing something on the other side of the river but then don’t ever do anything with it. There’s literally a chapter near the end called, “What’s on the Other Side of the River” and the answer is... who knows? Ugh. It’s like they wanted a little set-up for another book (which I’d welcome) but nothing new has been written since 2016.
As far as the editing problems of the Growly books go, this one was full of errors again, maybe the worst. I found 14 basic errors—misspellings, duplicate words, typos, etc. That’s not a small amount. And I didn’t even count the inconsistent punctuation issues.
An enjoyable read but not really a must-read for the series.
July 23, 2018
Such a phenomenal story. How can a book contain such great adventure and still be so peaceful? I didn't know it was possible before this series, and Haven is the icing on one of Gittel's cakes!
The ONLY thing I could ask of the authors at this point is MORE! I long to learn more about the bears and other creatures and their lives in and around Haven. My very favorite tales in print. Well done (again) Ulrichs!
The ONLY thing I could ask of the authors at this point is MORE! I long to learn more about the bears and other creatures and their lives in and around Haven. My very favorite tales in print. Well done (again) Ulrichs!
August 24, 2017
We wish we could give more than 5 stars to this whole series. I read them all (4) aloud and even my nearly 10yr old son said he wished they weren't over. Growly and Chippy and Ember will forget be our good friends!
March 24, 2020
This book was a mix for me of very frustrating and really exciting. My kids loved getting to finally see some of things near the end of the book that should have been in Morning, and the whole part where they were searching for Growly was very exciting even though we already knew what happened from reading the other books.
But: for a good chunk of the book, my main thought was that this is the only one of the four that I wouldn’t read again. One thing I enjoyed about the other three books was that it didn’t have a lot of arbitrary differences between boy and girl bears—they could all be friends, they all went on adventures, etc. But in the Haven book, I felt like it was always separating the “boy Cubs” and “girl Cubs” for no good reason at all. They have different adventures, the boys to the mountains with gliders and the girls just walking to the lower woods, even though Skye was a girl that was amazing with gliders and a glider ride to the mountains would have made perfect sense for her. I was so confused about why Skye didn’t get to use her glider for her adventure, but it was just because she was a girl. And I had looked forward to reading about Ember’s adventure, but it was SO disappointing. She went to a spot she basically already knew and stayed there, other than the hike at the end. There was zero adventure! No looking in new places, not even camping in different places. And by comparison with Growly’s epic adventure, it just felt too pathetic. I wanted Ember to have a great adventure too, even if it probably wouldn’t involve something quite as dramatic as going over The Precipice. That whole portion was only 2 stars for me, and the only thing that pulled this up to 3 stars was the thrilling end.
Also, I feel like some of the time things weren’t well explained (somehow Ember was less than ten years old, yet also old enough to participate in rescues, and some other things about ages were confusing) and that we STILL don’t know why the rivers by Chippy’s village were rising too, only why the part by Haven did. (It couldn’t have been rising below the Precipice yet because the events at the top hadn’t finished happening yet.)
Overall, I wish that some more of the parts of the reunion and bits of Ember’s perspective had been included in the original Growly books instead of having this one separately, or that it had been significantly reconfigured. The original books shouldn’t have been left without a reunion ending like they did.
But: for a good chunk of the book, my main thought was that this is the only one of the four that I wouldn’t read again. One thing I enjoyed about the other three books was that it didn’t have a lot of arbitrary differences between boy and girl bears—they could all be friends, they all went on adventures, etc. But in the Haven book, I felt like it was always separating the “boy Cubs” and “girl Cubs” for no good reason at all. They have different adventures, the boys to the mountains with gliders and the girls just walking to the lower woods, even though Skye was a girl that was amazing with gliders and a glider ride to the mountains would have made perfect sense for her. I was so confused about why Skye didn’t get to use her glider for her adventure, but it was just because she was a girl. And I had looked forward to reading about Ember’s adventure, but it was SO disappointing. She went to a spot she basically already knew and stayed there, other than the hike at the end. There was zero adventure! No looking in new places, not even camping in different places. And by comparison with Growly’s epic adventure, it just felt too pathetic. I wanted Ember to have a great adventure too, even if it probably wouldn’t involve something quite as dramatic as going over The Precipice. That whole portion was only 2 stars for me, and the only thing that pulled this up to 3 stars was the thrilling end.
Also, I feel like some of the time things weren’t well explained (somehow Ember was less than ten years old, yet also old enough to participate in rescues, and some other things about ages were confusing) and that we STILL don’t know why the rivers by Chippy’s village were rising too, only why the part by Haven did. (It couldn’t have been rising below the Precipice yet because the events at the top hadn’t finished happening yet.)
Overall, I wish that some more of the parts of the reunion and bits of Ember’s perspective had been included in the original Growly books instead of having this one separately, or that it had been significantly reconfigured. The original books shouldn’t have been left without a reunion ending like they did.
March 15, 2021
Once again, this series is not my favorite, but my 6yo continues to love the stories so much that he's actually jumping on the couch during the "exciting" parts. My 4yo enjoys it also. 5 stars from them, 3 stars from me so we will give it 4. I think the "romance" in it is pointless for the demographic it's written for...
April 22, 2020
As much as we loved the first 3 Growly books, we don’t feel quite as strongly about this one. While it was interesting to learn what happened in Haven the story was very slow moving, often overly descriptive of the scenery, which felt like “filler” for the lack of plot. While I loved seeing the girl bears as leaders in the rescue, their version of the adventure was a bit disappointing. The end made us glad we stuck it out, but the whole thing felt forced, like a publisher wanted a book and the authors didn’t really have another story to tell.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 24, 2018
We finished the series! It was a great read-aloud for the girls and me. I'll admit I was slightly less interested in Haven than the Growly books, but as the end drew near, I did find I was getting emotional as I anticipated the reunion of CJ and Growly with the Merridy and Ember. The whole story was beautiful and encouraging; a story of courage and hope.
June 3, 2019
Overall my son and I really liked this book. There are just a few annoyances. The maps in the book aren’t great. They don’t show all the areas where things happen, which makes it hard to show your kid where the characters are. Second, the book hints multiple times about something being on the other side of the great river yet does absolutely nothing with that plot line.
April 19, 2020
I enjoyed this book about Ember and her Adventures. The girl bears were given a chance to serve the community through the emergency response team. It wasn't a book about Ember pining away for Growly as he was off on his adventure, but instead about a girl who had plenty of friends and experiences of her own. Great read for an elementary age child.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 5, 2020
The best thing I can say about this book series? I am glad we are done. The idea was fun, good even! But the books were somehow both limited and wordy. This may have been the best of the books, but I would not recommend it or the rest of the series.
January 10, 2018
We have loved the entire series. The characters are wonderful and there is adventure and excitement throughout the story. My kids wish they could go on an adventure like the Cubs in the series!
April 18, 2018
We really enjoyed the Growly trilogy a few years back and loved reading about all that was going on back in Haven during Growly’s adventure.
June 29, 2018
Loved it!
Enjoyed reading this to my two boys, ages 5 and 7. We hope more will be written in the series!
Enjoyed reading this to my two boys, ages 5 and 7. We hope more will be written in the series!
January 5, 2019
A great addition to the series. So satisfying!!
July 14, 2019
A great ending to the Growly books. We would love more!
May 21, 2021
LOVED this book!!!!
April 17, 2023
She was a good bear. I like that she was Growly's friend. She fit him well.
January 11, 2026
So good!! The best book to read!!
June 11, 2019
Our absolute favorite family read aloud by far! We loved the entire series..... start with book #1 Growly:Begin
June 5, 2016
Fantastic! non-stop adventure
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August 10, 2016Excellent book for children
July 21, 2022
Though I am a little young for these books, whenever I want to read something easy, I come back and read a few chapters of this or a different book in the Growly series. It’s just so heartwarming!
April 3, 2017
Amazing!
I loved this series as much or more than my children did! We are all anxiously awaiting the next installment!
I loved this series as much or more than my children did! We are all anxiously awaiting the next installment!
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews