“Bear and Buddy’s Wild and Crazy Adventures,” the sequel to Bud Cole’s “The Mystery of Little Bear” is now available for fans of the late nature writer’s books.

Cole, a retired Northampton Area School District elementary school teacher, found a new outlet for his love of science and the outdoors through writing.

His column, “Bud’s View,” ran in the Focus section of the eight Lehigh Valley Press regional print newspapers and websites. Cole’s freelance articles and photography were also published in several travel and outdoors magazines. Cole received several Keystone awards for his “Bud’s View” column.

Cole was nearly finished with the sequel to his children’s novel when he died in July 2017. Beverly Cole, his wife of 24 years, edited the manuscript, then worked with Infinity Publishing for the “Bear and Buddy’s Wild and Crazy Adventures” posthumous release in 2018.

When asked about the target audience for the book, Beverly said, “Bud would always say, ‘Eight to eighty.’”

In both of his books, Bear, a mixed breed lost puppy found by the protagonist, Buddy Sterner, is based on the four-week-old puppy Cole had rescued and adopted while cross-country skiing.

Cole named him “Bear” because of his cub-like appearance.

“He ended up growing into this beautiful 96-pound dog,” said Beverly, adding, “Everybody thought that it should be a breed of its own because he was so beautiful.”

“The mystery was not knowing what kind of dog he was,” said Beverly of the plot and title from the first novel, “The Mystery of Little Bear,” published in 2012.

“Bear and Buddy’s Wild and Crazy Adventures” follows the boy and his dog of mysterious origin on their travels throughout a landscape based on the Lehigh Valley. A cat named Charcoal joins Buddy’s household.

Woven into the story of their adventures are lessons from nature, such as: Why mom freezes statue-like during a forest hike in the Pocono Mountains and experiences with surf fishing and catching crabs at the New Jersey shore.

Both books are illustrated by Deborah Miller.

Information: infinitypublishing.com; amazon.com