Good Books: The Bear

I've completed book number four for my 25-book-pledge. As a break from the horrors of ghost children and embarrassing romances, I decided to read The Bear by Claire Cameron. The cover is so pleasant looking. The book appears to be a nice story of two children and a bear. How charming. I mean, I'd be lying if I said I never dreamt of having a friend like Baloo to hang around, sing songs, dance, pick prickly pears, and float along down a river with. I was deceived! This was no such bear! Well maybe there is, but this bear was definitely not Baloo.

The Bear is a story about a family camping trip gone wrong. Six year old Anna narrates us through her experience of a bear attacking their family campsite, being cramped into the cooler with her younger brother, and then her mother urging them to get away. The novel follows the journey of a brother and sister as they struggle to survive in Algonquin park. Alex and Anna are waiting for their mother and father to follow and meet, but are left with little knowledge on what to eat, where to sleep and any survival skills (not surprising as they're only 6 and 2 years old) that could help them avoid harm from this dangerous creature. Though I wouldn't list the book as one of my favourites, it definitely grabbed my heart strings and left me feeling comforted by the end.