Reason For Touching Spirit Bear

“With anger that had been brewing all day, he attacked him and started hitting him hard in the face with his bare fists. Peter was no match, and soon Cole had pounded him bloody. A dozen students stood watching. When Peter tried to escape, he tripped and fell to the ground. Cole jumped on him again and started smashing his head into the sidewalk” (8). Touching Spirit Bear, by Ben Mikaelsen is about a kid named Cole. Cole is an angry kid who does a lot of bad stuff, so he gets put through Circle Justice, and the circle decides to put him on an island in Alaska. While on the island he is mauled by a spirit bear and after healing decides that he wants to become a better person. When he gets put on the island again, he takes it seriously and changes into a better person. Cole was able to overcome his adversity because he wanted to become a better person, he never gave up, and he had people supporting him along the way.

Touching Spirit Bear By Cameron Gillis Touching Spirit Bear is an intriguing and breathtaking novel by US author, Ben Mikaelsen . The genre of this book is adventure and coming of age because we, as the reader, understand the difficult journey the protagonist, Cole, goes through as he matures and changes. The book is carefully written from the first and third person point of view to help see and understand the events from different perspectives. The other main characters are Edwin, Garvey, Cole’s parents, and the Spirit Bear. The main themes of the book are the power of nature, anger, forgiveness, and healing.

Sometimes people need a certain experience to change their point of view. In Touching Spirit Bear, written by Ben Mikaelsen, a violent teenager named Cole Matthews is sent on a mission to redeem himself, and faces radical experiences that ultimately change his whole mindset. He commits the crime of beating up a fellow peer, then is banished to an island as a punishment for his actions by the Circle Justice; a committee that serves as an alternative form of justice in the Tlingit culture. He then faces difficult and even deadly challenges. As a result of this experience, he changes from his ungovernable, supercilious ways as he comes to strong and sudden realizations of how wrong he was, and he learns how to be an honest and forgiving human being.

“There in the palm of his hand was a wad of hair. Cole stared. The hair was white. All white. ‘It’s true,’ he whispered. ‘I wasn’t lying.’ Deliberately, he raised his hand and tossed the hair into the water. Beginning today, he would tell the truth. His words would become his only proof” (112). In Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelsen, Cole is a kid who focused on anger and lied a lot. In this part of the book Cole swore not to lie which is a big change. Cole was beaten up by his parents when he was younger and was raised in an environment of anger. He was forced to go to and island in Alaska because he smashed Peter Driscal’s head into the pavement. On the island in Alaska he was mauled by a bear for threatening it. Almost dead, Cole realized that he needed to change. So after going to rehab Cole gets one more chance on the island to fully

The book Ghost of Spirit Bear is a sequel to the book Touching Spirit Bear. I enjoyed this book because it has a good story and plot. While this book is not as adventurous or moving as the first book Ghost of Spirit Bear still has a good plot and creates vivid pictures in your mind while reading. I prefered Touching Spirit Bear over this book because it has more adventure and a more shocking story.

Cole is the main character in Touching Spirit Bear. He is an “innocent-looking baby-faced fifteen-year-old from Minneapolis ” (5) Cole has a temper and  he really doesn't care about anyone but himself. He blames everyone but himself Like when he blamed Peter Driscal for telling on him, but Cole was bragging about it. (7) Cole is a very selfish kid and is very stubborn. Cole thought to himself, “Circle justice was a bunch of bull.” (6)

The book Touching Spirit Bear is a breath-taking book that is full of healing and change. Cole’s journey of healing and forgiveness starts out slow, but picks up the pace. This journey will show the reader how one can change so much.

In the novel Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelsen, the main character Cole Matthews demonstrates he is reckless on several occasions. Cole exhibits this trait on page 65 when he throws a wood spear at the spirit bear. He does not think things through and does not realize the fact that a bear could could kill him with ease. On pg 50 “Peter's lawyer said “we don't know all the reasons for clues anger,but we do know he is out of control , any solution found by this circle justice must protect society and make Cole fully responsible for his actions”. This statement by someone else reveals that Cole is reckless and does not think things though because he beat up a kid and thought he would get away with it with our any consequences. Later,

Touching Spirit Bear Reflection Paragraph The biggest affect of the book “Touching Spirit Bear” for me was when he actually cared for someone besides himself, or changed. One of the things that he did was cared for the baby sparrows when he saw them in the nest, and when he saw them dead, I think he changed then. Another thing that he did was when he wanted help Peter get better and not try to commit suicide. I loved that he changed and made everything better between Peter and him at the end. When he changed, it made me enjoy the book, because at first I disliked it.

Have one of he or she’s friends ever dealt with conflict? Probably, Did he or she have a good point-of-view or bad point-of-view, And how did it affect your point-of-view. In Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelsen a summary is “After smashing peter’s head into the sidewalk he goes to an Alaska island, And after getting mauled by a bear, he goes back to Minneapolis but the circle makes him go back but he has to pay for everything, When Peter comes to the island Cole tries to make it right with him but after Peter beating up Cole Peter says that he forgives Cole”. Cole notices how bad his Point-of-view is with his parents and how it changes with his mom but not his dad, and how it changes on the island and with Peter.

“Something very beautiful happens to people when their world has fallen apart: a humility, a nobility, a higher intelligence emerges at just the point when our knees hit the floor.” (Marianne Williamson). Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelsen, focuses on a boy named Cole who doesn’t care about anything and does whatever he wants. He ends up beating up a fellow student and goes to jail for it, but has a chance to get out by going to an island to “change” for the better. In fact he does end up changing for the better and overcomes some of his big challenges. Cole’s attitude, relationships, and environment develop into positive counterbalances that help him overcome adversity.

In Ben Mikaelsen’s Touching Spirit Bear, the main character, Cole Matthews has mixed opinions about himself and nature throughout the book. The above haikus illustrate Cole’s feelings and opinions toward nature in the beginning, middle, and end of the story. The three haikus tell many things, including Aha Moment signposts, the fact that Cole is a dynamic character, and even one little theme of the book. They can teach you a lot about Cole as a character and the whole plot of the story.

"He's been in and out of a dozen police stations the same amount of counselors a psychologist and several detention centers and two residential treatment centers"(pg 6). His personality is mean and brutal and only cares about him. He beat a kid so bad he had to go to the hospital and suffers permanent damage. This personality was created when his dad had begun to beat him whenever he was drunk. Once Cole felt he was at his weakest point, he felt if he overpowered someone else he would feel more powerful.

Has anyone ever called you an animal? Have you been compared to a sloth because you were lazy, or a mouse because you were quiet? In my Language Arts class, we read the book “Touching Spirit Bear” by Ben Mikaelsen. In this novel, a troubled teenage boy named Cole is banished to an island to find and heal his soul after he severely beats a kid. During his stay on the island, Cole realizes that he is similar to several different animals. After reading this novel, I have started to think of animals that symbolize how I was like in my past, present, and future. Furthermore, Monkeys are very playful creatures and have a tribe that puts each other first. A deer is a symbol of sensitivity and kindness, they symbolize feminine qualities. Lastly, bears

1 Why is the book called Bear Dance? A: He “bear dances “to put himself into a trance. Once he is in a trance he is in the spirit world. Then goes to the spirit world to seek help from the sprit bear.