Review: THE LAST BEAR by Hannah Gold

 

The Last Bear by Hannah Gold
My rating: 5 of 5 stars


In this instant literary classic about friendship, forging your own path, and doing what’s right, debut author Hannah Gold inspires fans of Pax and A Wolf Called Wander to make a difference in any way they can.

There are no polar bears left on Bear Island. At least, that’s what April’s father tells her when his scientific research takes them to a faraway Arctic outpost.

But one night, April catches a glimpse of something distinctly bear shaped loping across the horizon. A polar bear who shouldn’t be there—who is hungry, lonely and a long way from home.

Fusing environmental awareness with a touching story of kindness, The Last Bear will include full-page black-and-white illustrations as well as a note from the author with facts about the real Bear Island and the plight of the polar bears. 

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Every now and again, you read a book, and it feels like being wrapped in a warm hug from someone important. It feels beautiful and significant, and you know it's going to have a long-lasting effect on you. This was that book.

I haven't that much middlegrade before, but I'd seen the author posting beautiful photos of this book on social media, so when I saw I could get a signed copy from Waterstones, I jumped at the chance. And this book was amazing.

April and her father get the chance to live at the Arctic when he gets located there for his job. While he's busy shutting himself away for work, April explores the island--and finds a polar bear, a bear who know one else knows is there.

April's a complex character. She's somewhat friendless at school and prefers being on her own. She feels abandoned at times by her father who is swamped in work--and indeed, working seems to be his coping mechanism for dealing with the death of April's mother. April is, in turn, still processing this, and we can really see how her life experiences have shaped her.

April and the polar bear build an almost magical friendship. Both are lost and isolated, and they come to trust each other greatly. The bear is hungry and April feeds him, providing him with her food. But of course, this friendship has a time limit on it--not only are April and her father due to return home at the end of his work, but this secret friendship can't last once food has run out, and there's also the threat of others finding out about the bear and removing him.

The ending of this book is bittersweet. I felt sad--I wanted things to go another way--but it also felt right. It was the right ending for the book, and I'm sure it'll teach a lot of children some very important life lessons too.

This book also says a lot about the environment and the devastating effects of global warming on the melting ice caps and the animals this affects, such as polar bears. There's just so much in this book.

It's a really important read.

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Review: MY CAT CALLED RED by Jane Lightbourne

 

My Cat Called Red by Jane Lightbourne
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Red is an extraordinary cat. When he turns up on Robin’s doorstep one night the little boy doesn’t realise how magical the cat’s powers are.

For Red has a magic purr. But he’s been on a journey, a search for his forever home, and with all the danger and the excitement that has accompanied that, he’s come to lose his purr.

How?

The troubled Robin won’t rest until he knows Red’s story.

And so his grandfather tells it to him.

Mid-grade chapter book My Cat Called Red is a heartwarming adventure story by author Jane Lightbourne, about friendship and courage in the face of danger, featuring the magical cat Red and the purr that transforms children’s lives. The ebook topped the Amazon Hot New Release charts when it first came out and has been an Amazon category bestseller in several categories, reaching the number 2 spot in the UK and number 1 in Australia across its categories. Designed for children aged 8 to 12, My Cat Called Red is a modern classic that will appeal to all ages.

A percentage of profit from sales of the first edition of the paperback will be donated to the National Literacy Trust.

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Firstly, thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book. I hadn't heard of this writer before, but I'm a sucker for animal stories and children's stories/middlegrade so I requested this book as soon as I saw it and was delighted to receive a copy.

This tells the story of Robin, a troubled boy following his mother's death, and how he's sent around various relatives until he lives with his grandfather. There, he meets an abandoned red cat, and the grandfather proceeds to tell the red cat's life story. And, wow, this is a sad story at times. It does get dark--and I did wonder just how appropriate this would be for younger children, given I think this is aimed at seven-year-olds. (I would've recommended it for being slightly older kids, as you've got a lot of rhetoric on death and grief--which made me, a woman in her late twenties tearful at times--as well as talk of animal cruelty, such as how some kittens are drowned and/or killed when they're not wanted.) But this is a good book to give to children to teach them about these difficult themes--life, death, grief, etc, and of course animal cruelty. In fact, I don't think I've come across a children's book before that tackles it so directly.

The framing of the cat's narrative is folded within Robin's story, via the grandfather telling the tale. It does give it a Chinese Box frame narrative, similar to that in Wuthering Heights, so this book is definitely well structured. I could see a lot of care had gone into the writing of this.

There are quite a lot of characters in this too, as the red cat tells of how he's gone from home to home, and a couple of times I got a bit lost or mixed up a few of these characters when they were later referred back to.

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