Quotes From Touching Spirit Bear

Ben Mikaelsen wrote a story about a troubled boy named Cole Mathews. The book is called “Touching Spirit Bear”. Cole did some bad things in his life and he has to fix them. Instead of going to jail for the things he has done Cole goes to an island to become a better person.

Body In the later part of the book, after Cole is banished from the island for the second time, he fought and lost to a white spirit bear. The ‘approach’ begins when Peter Driscal is sent to the island where Cole

“Your so diffrent.Grown.No.I’m the same it is everything else that has changed she she shook her head.no.you’ve changed”(paulsen 149).In the historical fiction woods runner by gary paulsen. it shows lots of change over time physically and mentally.In the story woods runner samuel’s parents are taking and he is determined to find them.On his journey he meets many people who help him.he also learns many different things that help him on his way to his family.

In Ben Mikaelsen novel “Touching Spirit Bear”, Cole Matthews is a fifteen trouble teen who has been in trouble with the law his whole life. In this novel he faces his “last chance” at freedom because of his actions. Cole Matthews is a person who is angry, lonely, and a person who never takes responsibility for his actions.

In the novel Touching Spirit Bear, by Ben Mikaelsen, a boy named Cole Matthews has a big problem. After several crimes, Cole gets in trouble and ends up in jail. Since he does not want to face a lot of jail time, he decides to join Circle Justice. Circle Justice requires Cole to want to change. However, Cole Matthews instead avoids responsibility and accuses someone else for everything that happens to him. His responses are pernicious to himself, and he needs to learn to have the courage to honestly examine his behaviors. Throughout Chapters 1-10, there are several examples of Cole blaming others for things he did.

Joe Strummer, a famous singer, actor and more, once said, “The toughest thing is facing yourself. Being honest with yourself, that's much tougher than beating someone up. That’s what I call tough.”

The morning after returning to the island, Cole was awoken in the early morning by Edwin to do this very act. Part of this process was to carry a rock named as the ancestor rock, up the hill to the pond, and when leaving, pushing it with great force down the hill and having it resemble anger and the act of pushing it away. On page 144 of Touching Spirit Bear, Edwin describes this process’ effects metaphorically. “The right end of this stick is your happiness, and the left end is your anger….Break off the left end and get rid of your anger.” When Cole breaks the stick, the left end is gone, but still exists. This is used as a metaphor to describe how anger is never completely gone, But which side of the stick you choose to focus on, is important. Once again, Cole found little to no importance in this ritual when first introduced to it, but with consistency, or as much as he could bear, he gained strength in this. Whereas it seemed to be a painful chore in the beginning, this process helped Cole greatly relieve his anger first thing most mornings. When he didn’t go to soak, or if he was unable to due to weather conditions, he felt his anger creep back. This was difficult during winter of course, but when Cole does return home to Minneapolis, because of his experience and time without soaking, he will learn other ways to focus on happiness. Peter came to the island as well, in everyone’s interest to relieve him of his depression that had been only getting worse due to two suicide attempts. The morning after Peter arrived upon the island, Cole invited Garvey and Peter to soak in the pond along with him, but Peter did not want to, he, as Cole once did, found it pointless, however, Garvey and him went along to watch. When the time came to push the anger rock, Cole offered to let Peter push, but he refused. Mostly

I’ve never committed a crime, but author Ben Mikaelsen made me feel as if I was right there in the library waiting for my final judgement for beating a poor little kid.  The book “Touching Spirit Bear” and its sequel “The Ghost of Spirit Bear” are both books written by novelist Ben Mikaelsen about two boys and their intertwined life.   The first book takes place when teen delinquent Cole Matthews beats up a boy at school named Peter for telling on him.  Peter’s injury leads to a permanent speech impediment and because of this Cole goes to jail.  When Cole’s probation officer, Garvey, tells about a tribal version of punishment called Circle Justice, which is where the two people involved in the crime must heal together, and move forward from their quarrel, Cole jumps at the idea to get out of jail.  When this doesn’t work they decide to send Cole to an Alaskan island, which Peter is eventually sent to.  Eventually they become friends and they get past their problems.  It is the next book where they face challenges of going back to school and fitting in.

“You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” (C.S. Lewis). In the novel Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelsen, readers explore the theme of change through the journey of 15 year old Cole Matthews' path to self discovery. The central conflict in the novel introduces Cole Matthews, the main character who commits a violent crime by beating up his classmate, Peter Driscal. Cole is left with a choice to go to prison, or to stay on an isolated island in Alaska for one year.

Cole gets mauled almost to death and is left on the ground to die until someone returns to find him. This is resolved in Chapter 13 just as Cole was about to give up on life and die Edwin and Garvey find him and take him to safety. When he was getting taken to safety he knew that no one would believe him if he said he saw a spirit bear but he threw the fur in the water anyways because he knew he saw it. After this Cole has a different mindset, he wants to be a different person and be nice, but most of all he wants to help Peter get

but all that is really changing is you. Your values and morals change along with your opinions. You begin to see

I read the book Ghost Of Spirit Bear, which is the sequel to Touching Spirit Bear. I decided I wanted to read this book because I enjoyed Touching Spirit Bear. There are amazing conflicts and themes in this series, it truly inspires me.

In life, people have made mistakes, but it doesn’t matter how far down the wrong road you go, you can always turn back. In the book, “Touching Spirit Bear”, by Ben Mikaelsen, Cole has always made bad choices, but goes to Circle Justice for it. He learns his way there because he realized that he can control his emotions. Also, when he soaks in the pond and throws the ancestor rock, he feels his mistakes and anger forgiving him because his feelings are no longer taking control of Cole. Finally, Cole can forgive and help his victim (Peter) heal after he learned his way at Circle Justice.

Change can happen in any place at any time. They can be tiny tweaks in personality or life turning revelations. These changes can catch one off guard and take them on an unforgettable adventure. Charlie Lavery a former WWII pilot is flying an airplane over a remote tundra region accompanied by an Eskimo woman named Konala when his plane fails him and they crash land. Charlie deciding that he could walk to the nearest civilization ditches Konala and begins the long hike. Days later Konala finds him dying, and during the process of being nursed back to health learns many important things and changes himself. Throughout the progression of Mowat’s short story “Walk Well, My Brother”, the protagonist Charlie

Cole Matthews is not an uncommon young man that one would find in today’s society. Cole has not had a life I would call “easy” or “fair.” He had parents that as Cole stated, “all my parents do is drink.” (p27) His father beat him profusely. This is evidenced in the Circle Justice meetings when Cole said, “Or you’ll what?” “Beat me?” …..” “You’re still lying!” he shouted. “You’re usually too drunk to know your own name!” Cole knew these words guaranteed him a terrible beating next time he was alone…(p47-48) Cole didn’t feel he had any other emotions other than anger and fear. Many of us have had the same feelings as Cole, “He didn’t trust anyone who wasn’t afraid of him.” (p4) This is an