Quotes From Touching Spirit Bear

“Are you okay?” After the tree was struck by lighting Cole looked into the darkness to see if the baby birds were still alive. This is the first sign showing that Cole Matthews can change. Cole is starting to have compassion, something he didn’t have before. For this reason, Cole should go back to the island and not go to jail.

I am assuming that these two men, Garvey and Edwin, had been much like Cole and they too learned how to control their anger and make their choices in life better.

In Touching Spirit Bear, by Ben Mikaelsen, Cole Matthews, the protagonist, is a troublemaker. He always has been. But, when he smashes Peter Driscal’s head into the concrete sidewalk, he ends up having to make a decision; prison time, or a year on a remote Alaskan island. But, that’s not the only crime he has done. This leads to me seeing him as a sociopath. Sociopaths tend to lie, break laws, act impulsively, and lack regard to the safety of themselves and others, all of which, he does.

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 condemned 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.

Touching Spirit Bear and The Last Dog on Earth are both stories of young men in worlds of violence and turmoil, one caused by inner conflict, and one in a broken world. Touching Spirit Bear, by Ben Mikaelsen, and The Last Dog on Earth, by Daniel Ehrenhaft, are similarly compelling tales of young men who overcome their struggles and forge or repair connections with others. These stories focus on the shared themes of anger, and family, and contrasting themes of responsibility, and connections with nature, the self, and society. Touching Spirit Bear, and The Last Dog on Earth, despite having many similarities, aim to convey fundamentally different messages.

Cole Matthews asks readers, “’Do you know what it's like waking up every morning knowing you're not good enough?’” and many young adults do. Young adults will relate to the characters in Touching Spirit Bear. “Touching Spirit Bear” is a young adult novel written by Ben Mikaelsen. It is about a teenager named Cole who, instead of going to prison for beating someone up, does a program called ‘Circle Justice’ where he is sent to a remote Alaskan island to heal. When he gets to the island he tries to escape, and attacks a bear, which almost kills him. After recovering in the hospital, he goes back to the island and tries again, this time with a willingness to change. While he’s there, he learns about himself, nature, and gains a new appreciation for life and for himself. He learns to be a better person, and forgive himself, and he realizes to fully heal he needs to help Peter, the person he beat up, heal too. Peter and Cole heal together, and eventually become friends. Touching Spirit Bear is a compelling piece of young adult fiction that will do well on the shelves, and should be published. It will do well because it is relatable, it is well written, and it fulfils a need in the genre for realistic fiction in young adult literature.

So far in the book, Cole has changed in many ways. First of all, Cole has changed because he has begun to have empathy for other living beings. Cole continuously refers back to the baby sparrows that died. After he is rescued from the island, at the Circle Justice meeting, he feels that each living being is important because he understands how horrible it is to be slowly waiting for your death. Nextly, Cole has changed because he has begun to realize that he cannot control everything and there are always going to be forces that are bigger and more powerful than him. Furthermore, Cole has also started to be honest and learned that since, “his life had become filled with lies, and the more he lied the more he always tried to prove he was right,”(111)

Conflict appears to be a pervading theme in the novel Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelsen, for a young delinquent by the name of Cole Mathews. After a troubling life at home that lead him to a path of destruction and hatred, Cole gets shipped off to an isolated island. He gets attacked by a bear and quickly needs to learn his place in the scheme of life to survive. Not only does Cole have to face death after being brutally mauled by a spirit bear, he also has to chose who he wants to become, face his abusive parents, and make things right with an innocent boy he wrongly attacked. Overtime the reader realizes there is much more to Cole than what meets the eye and that he is intertwined with multiple conflicts.

The Book we read was “Touching Spirit Bear.” Honestly, it was not the best to me. Although I would recommend it to mature readers. This is because it maybe either violent or disturbing to younger readers.

Why? Because I enjoyed how I felt when Cole was changing right on the page in front of me. Cole grew into this incredible person and I loved watching that and see how he started as a big failure and turned out to be a huge success, this story proves that if you really want to change, you can. At first, Cole wanted to make a fool of everyone and he thought that life was just a big game. “Cole forced himself not to pull away from Garvey’s hand. ‘I really do want to change,’ he said, using the innocent childish voice that had served him well countless times before. . . . After Garvey left the detention center that day, Cole jabbed his fist into the air. ‘Yes!’ he exclaimed. The world was made up of suckers and fools, and today Garvey was at the top of the heap” (Mikaelson 12-13). Cole is saying that life has no purpose, and everyone is a sucker and a fool. “‘You’re right; you can’t change what you did to Peter,’ said Edwin, his voice softer. ‘But you have changed.’ He studied Cole, whose cheeks glistened with tears. He laid a gentle hand on Cole’s shoulder. ‘Whatever happens, you have changed here on the island. Both Garvey and I know that, and we’re very proud of you.’ Before leaving that day, Edwin asked one more question. ‘Would you be willing to stay longer if it meant helping Peter?’ ‘I’d stay my whole life if that’s what it took’” (Mikaelson 207-208). Cole has changed, he thinks life has a purpose now and

In the novel, Touching Spirit Bear by Ben MiIkaelsen, Cole Matthews develops humility and trust worthiness through his experiences during his circle justice banishment. Cole Matthews picks on a ninth grader, Peter Driscal and one day, very harshly in the parking lot on the sidewalk (7). Although, Cole Matthews has got beaten up by his father his whole life (257).Cole beat up anyone or anything that got in his way. He had so much anger that he couldn’t control himself. His father got beaten up by his father so that is all he knows. Cole doesn’t care about anyone else but himself. He also thinks that he knows everything and he always has the right answer. Later on in the book he starts to change his personality.

Perseverance is a hard task to master, but it will help you in the long run. When it comes to this you must continue to believe in yourself no matter what happens; you can’t give up. In Ben Michaelsen’s novel Touching Spirit Bear, as Cole lies near death, he creates goals that he will have to work toward.

In Touching Spirit Bear Ben Mikaelsen, the author, develops the idea that overcoming hatred, grudges, and your fears is possible if you let people help you. This can be seen through the characterization of Cole and how his personality changes throughout the book and by the way his actions change and how he begins to show compassion when before he just would demonstrate hate. The development of the main character, Cole, during his journey to Alaska and back home shows the change of his personality from the beginning to the end of the story. In the beginning of the book Cole’s personality was self centered and rude.

Cole is the 15-year-old juvenile from the novel Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelson. Cole has been in trouble with the law since he was 7 and isn’t thinking about stopping. The wrongdoing delinquent’s latest crime was robbing the local hardware store. A 9th grader by the name of Peter Driscoll went to the authorities to inform the police about the robber. Unfortunately, Cole beats him so hard he is hospitalized for 6 months. At the detention center, Cole’s gravelly-voiced, wisecracking, Native-American parole officer, Garvey tells him about Circle Justice. Circle Justice is a Native-American tradition for healing. Although Circle Justice is meant for good, Cole’s idea is to just to get out of jail. On the island Circle Justice sends

First, Cole has the ability to control his mind. I told Cole it’s important to focus the happy end of the stick, not the angry end. When