Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelsen

Reviewed by Catherine L.

Asking yourself what book you should pick? Taking your time on the shelves? How about this book, Touching Spirit Bear. Touching Spirit Bear is an award winning adventure novel by Ben Mikaelsen. A book that makes you want to take sides & have strong thoughts about the characters. It’s filled of adventure & gruesome events. You won’t get bored of it!


Cole Matthews is a ruthless bully, the one who you’d take the longest route home just to avoid meeting. Worse yet, his parents can get him out of juvenile prison every time until this one case. Cole Matthews commits a horrible crime against 7th grader Peter Driscal that lands him in hot water. Follow Cole & his journey to heal & change.

Totally heart this book! I give it 5 stars!

-Reviewed By Nicholas C.                        

The genre of this book is a adventure novel. Cole is a juvenile delinquent from Minneapolis that is on a boat heading to an island in Alaska to heal. When I say heal that means to let go of all of his anger inside. A kid named Peter Driscal figured out that Cole had ransacked a store and had told the police. So Cole decides to beat him up.  Many things are happening in his life and he has a hard time on the island. There is a bear that does do something you won’t want to know but to figure out you must read it.


-Reviewed by Crystal W.

Touching Spirit Bear is a great book. Ben Mikaelsen does a great job describing the setting and the characters’ personality.  He also does a very good job showing symbolism with normal things that you can see. The characters in Touching Spirit Bear are very realistic and believable.

This book is about a main character named Cole. Cole has a history of violence and stealing. The latest crime that he committed was smashing Peter Driscal’s head into the sidewalk. This time the consequences are much harsher. “ This time Cole will have to choose between prison and a Native American Circle Justice. He will live either behind bars or in insulation for one year.” Cole wanted to avoid jail but he hates Circle Justice so tried to get away then he gets mauled by the spirit bear because the tries to kill the spirit bear.

Reviewed by Kako W.

Touching Spirit Bear is an award winning novel by Ben Mikaelsen. This is a realistic fiction book but its elements fit into the adventure genre. With all its actions and cliffhangers at the end of each chapter, this is a book that will not make you want to put down.

The book is about a teenager named Cole Matthews who has a misguided life. He has beaten up Peter Driscal and his punishment was to survive on a remote Alaskan island in isolation for a year. He sees the Spirit Bear on the island and tries to kill it. He gets mauled by it and clings onto life.

I like that the author is trying to have the book have connections to nature. He also puts in a lot of symbolism which gives deep meaning to the book and makes the reader think about what it represents. When Garvey showed the ingredients and cake, it made me think about what kind of point he was trying to make.