Touching Spirit Bear
by Ben Mikaelsen

HarperTrophy, 2001, 240 pp., $5.99 ISBN-13: 978-0-380-80560-0
ISBN-10: 0-380-80560-X

Touching Spirit Bear is about a troubled kid named Cole Matthews. Cole lives in Minneapolis Minnesota and has been to jail countless times because of his actions. But nothing has happened to him as serious as this. A boy in Coles grade named Peter Driscal spread the truth about Cole robbing a hardware store so he beats Peter up really badly by smashing his head against the sidewalk. Cole is then sent to a remote island in Alaska. At first Cole hates the island but once he gets mauled by a mysterious white bear he learns slowly that the world does not revolve around him. At the end there is a surprising twist that you would not expect.I liked this book a lot because it has a moral to it and some old Indian beliefs like totem poles and the circle of life. This book is good for people who like wilderness survival and religious beliefs, such as good spirits. Cole Matthews is like a lot of people that can seem bad but can change really fast. This is basically the whole theme of the book, anything can happen or good always prevails over evil. The really cool part about the book is that it takes place on a remote island in Alaska. The island is really cold and practically inescapable. Somewhere in the book Cole almost freezes to death by trying to escape the island but he swims back just in time before it got dark.This book was amazing. I could not put it down because it kept me on my seat constantly, and I bet it would have the same affect on other readers. Mikaelson’s writing style, I think, has a lot of heart and soul in it for instance Cole learned a lot about purifying the soul and getting to know the nature around him. He also learned about seeing the good in everyone. The way Mikaelson writes is questionable, basically you either you like it a lot or not at all. This book might not have the action like some other books but it is unique in such a way that it is grabbing because it has some Indian lore to it. . I could read it all over again. Ben Mikaelsen has other books out such as Tree Girl and the sequel of this book called the Ghost of Spirit Bear.

~ reviewed by Connor