50 Fun Facts About Touching Spirit Bear

In Touching Spirit Bear, which Native American form of sentencing spares Cole from adult prison?

Circle Justice aims to heal the offender, the victim and the community together instead of simply punishing. Garvey warns Cole that banishment under it will be far harder than jail.

In Touching Spirit Bear, what does Cole do to Edwin's shelter once the boat leaves him alone?

He burns it down with gasoline and a match, supplies and all, in a rage at everyone who sent him there. Within hours he is shivering on the shore with no roof and no food.

The white animal in Touching Spirit Bear is a pale-coated variety of which kind of bear?

Black is right: the spirit bear is a subspecies of the American black bear, and most of its kind are born with ordinary dark coats. Only a few hundred pale ones are thought to exist.

In Touching Spirit Bear, what must each speaker be holding at the hearings on Cole's case?

A feather passes from hand to hand, and only whoever holds it may speak. When it reaches Cole's mother she is too afraid to say anything and simply hands it on.

In Touching Spirit Bear, Garvey has Cole taste raw ingredients, then serves him what baked treat?

A cake made from the very flour, salt and eggs that tasted awful alone is the whole lesson. Garvey wants Cole to see that the bad parts of a life can still add up to something good.

In Touching Spirit Bear, where does Edwin make Cole soak at dawn to let go of his anger?

A freezing pond is Edwin's own cure: he soaked there every day when he was banished to the same island as a young man. Cole admits the cold leaves him no room to feel angry.

In Touching Spirit Bear, what does Cole carve from a huge log, adding an animal for each lesson?

A totem pole becomes the record of Cole's year, with an eagle, a wolf and other animals carved in as he meets them. One space stays blank until he works out how to show forgiveness.

In Touching Spirit Bear, which small animal does the injured Cole catch with one hand and eat alive?

A mouse that wanders within reach is chewed up, fur and bones included. Too broken to stand, Cole has already forced down grass, worms and beetles to stay alive.

In Touching Spirit Bear, how does Cole respond when Peter Driscal punches and kicks him?

Cole refuses to fight back, taking every blow until Peter sinks to his knees in tears. As the two finally embrace, the bear appears to them both.

In Touching Spirit Bear, what does Cole boast he will do if he meets the bear Edwin describes?

Kill it, Cole brags, and Edwin answers that whatever he does to the animals he does to himself. Soon afterwards Cole attacks the bear and is mauled almost to death.

In Touching Spirit Bear, which Midwestern city is Cole Matthews's home before his banishment?

Minneapolis is where Cole grew up and where he attacked Peter. After the mauling he is flown back there and spends six months recovering before the island gets a second try.

In Touching Spirit Bear, what is Cole wearing on his wrists as the skiff carries him to the island?

Handcuffs stay on Cole even while Edwin and Garvey unload his supplies at the island. He offers to help carry the boxes, and both men ignore him.

In Touching Spirit Bear, what weapon does Cole make from a branch to attack the bear?

A spear cut from a branch does nothing: the bear knocks it aside and mauls him. Lying broken afterwards, Cole realises this is the first creature that was never afraid of him.

In Touching Spirit Bear, what natural force defeats Cole's attempt to swim away from the island?

The incoming tide pushes Cole back to the beach however hard he swims, and a leg cramp nearly drowns him. He staggers ashore at dusk, and that is when he first sees the bear.

In Touching Spirit Bear, what did Peter Driscal do that made Cole attack him so savagely?

Peter reported his break-in at a hardware store after Cole bragged about it to classmates. Cole's revenge left Peter with injuries that doctors feared would be permanent.

In Touching Spirit Bear, the at.óow Garvey entrusts to Cole is what kind of heirloom?

A blanket handed down through generations, the at.óow stands for trust, and whoever holds it must one day pass it to someone he trusts. Cole finally gives it to Peter.

In Touching Spirit Bear, what is Cole's father charged with once Cole's mother speaks up?

Child abuse charges follow once Garvey persuades her to tell the truth about years of beatings. His lawyer has him released the same day, so he never spends a night in jail.

In Touching Spirit Bear, which escape craft is Cole tempted to carve from the huge log he finds?

A canoe would have let Cole flee, and merely imagining it brought his old anger back. He hacked a deep groove into the log so it could never be used that way.

In Touching Spirit Bear, which animal's dance shows Cole that he, too, migrates without a real home?

A whale breaching offshore prompts the first dance Edwin leads around the campfire. Each dancer must then say what the animal taught him, and Cole sees his own rootlessness.

In Touching Spirit Bear, Edwin is an elder of which Native people of Southeast Alaska?

Tlingit society is divided into Raven and Eagle halves, with clan membership passed down through the mother. Garvey shares that heritage, which is why he suggests his homeland for Cole.

In Touching Spirit Bear, how does the helpless Cole defy the bear when it returns after the mauling?

He spits at it, expecting to be killed for the insult. The bear only sniffs him and walks away, and at their next meeting Cole reaches up and touches its coat instead.

In Touching Spirit Bear, which proof of his bear encounter does Cole secretly throw away?

A tuft of hair pulled from the bear sat in his pocket all through the rescue. Edwin doubts such an animal lives so far north, and Cole decides his honesty must stand without evidence.

In Touching Spirit Bear, what work does Rosey do single-handed in the settlement near Cole's island?

Nurse Rosey keeps Cole alive through the night because no medical plane can reach them until morning. Asked why she bothers with him, she says helping others is the point of living.

In Touching Spirit Bear, which plain food does Garvey cut in three and toast over to celebrate life?

A hot dog is only food to Cole, who cooks one and wolfs it down. Garvey shares his in pieces with toasts and laughter to show that any meal becomes a celebration if you treat it as one.

In Touching Spirit Bear, what title is given to the woman who leads the hearings on Cole's sentence?

The Keeper is never given any other name in the novel. She has everyone join hands as a meeting opens and enforces the rule about who may speak.

In Touching Spirit Bear, the heavy rock Cole carries uphill each morning stands for whom?

His ancestors go up the slope with him, Edwin explains, along with every lesson they learned. At the top the stone changes meaning: Cole rolls it down as his anger and watches it go.

In Touching Spirit Bear, which parting gift does Garvey say can destroy Cole or help him heal?

A knife can wound, Garvey says, or it can carve and reveal what lies within its owner. Cole promises to make something special with it.

In Touching Spirit Bear, where does Cole sleep so that a frightened Peter can have the cabin?

A tent pitched outside is Cole's bed for weeks, and it leaks in the constant rain. Peter finally comes over during a downpour and says he may sleep indoors.

Touching Spirit Bear opens on the boat to the island; how are Cole's earlier crimes revealed?

Flashbacks carry the hearings and the attack on Peter, cutting in while Cole swims, starves and lies injured. Starting a story mid-journey like this is known as in medias res.

In Touching Spirit Bear, how is Cole's second trip to the island paid for at Edwin's insistence?

Selling his belongings, from the dirt bike to the skis, covers the whole cost. Nothing else is handed to him either: this time Cole must build his own shelter while the men look on.

In Touching Spirit Bear, which small Alaskan town is Edwin's home and the gateway to Cole's island?

Drake is where Edwin lives and keeps the skiff that ferries supplies out to the island. After the mauling, Cole is rushed back there to wait for a plane.

In Touching Spirit Bear, how must Cole wear his clothes for two weeks to show shame for his crime?

Inside out is Edwin's order for the first fortnight on the island. Cole thinks the whole idea is nonsense and obeys only because it beats a jail cell.

In Touching Spirit Bear, which fact about Cole can his father not recall when Garvey asks him?

His birthday is a blank to the man who has just told the room he devoted his whole life to his son. Garvey puts the question to him on the way out of a three-hour hearing.

In Touching Spirit Bear, which habit has Cole's mother quit by the time she asks his forgiveness?

Drinking was how she blotted out what she could not face at home, she tells him. Sober and living apart from his father, she visits every day and seems surer of herself.

In Touching Spirit Bear, lightning fells a tree holding which birds' nest beside the injured Cole?

Sparrows had annoyed him at first, a mother fussing over chicks while nobody cared for him. Calling out to ask whether the babies survived the storm is Cole's first flicker of compassion.

In Touching Spirit Bear, which animal's trust does Cole regret betraying after he tries to grab it?

A beaver that swims up close makes Cole wonder how often he has betrayed people the same way. Its dance later teaches him the patience and persistence it takes to build a dam alone.

In Touching Spirit Bear, what finally makes Cole invisible enough for the bear to show itself again?

Clearing his mind is the answer Cole wakes up with after weeks of failure. Washing his clothes and rubbing ashes on his skin had hidden his scent but not his restless thoughts.

Touching Spirit Bear follows only Cole's thoughts, yet it is narrated from which point of view?

Third person narration reports Cole's private thoughts as he, never I. Readers see straight through his lies to the adults because the narrator stays inside his head and nobody else's.

Real bears like the one in Touching Spirit Bear live mainly on which Canadian province's coast?

British Columbia made the animal its official provincial mammal in 2006. That is why Edwin is startled by Cole's story: such bears normally live hundreds of miles south of the island.

In Touching Spirit Bear, how does Edwin teach Cole to keep his food coolers safe from bears?

To hang them in trees is the first practical lesson of the second trip. Edwin follows it with a promise: tomorrow night they will build a fire and dance out their feelings.

What gives real spirit bears, like the animal in Touching Spirit Bear, their pale coats?

A recessive gene must come from both parents, so two dark bears can produce a pale cub. The animals are not albinos: their skin and eyes keep their normal colour.

Real spirit bears, like the one in Touching Spirit Bear, also go by which other name?

Kermode honours Frank Kermode, who studied the animals while running the provincial museum. Today the bear's name is said with an extra syllable that his own surname never had.

Touching Spirit Bear author Ben Mikaelsen was born and bullied in which South American country?

Bolivia was home until just before seventh grade, when his family moved to the United States. He was bullied in both countries, and went on to tour schools speaking about what it did to him.

What name did Touching Spirit Bear author Ben Mikaelsen give the 750-pound bear he raised at home?

Buffy lived with him for 26 years after he took the animal in while building his house in Montana. He called the bear a member of his family, and it inspired the novel.

In Touching Spirit Bear, which spiny plant fills Cole's hand with thorns during the mauling?

Devil's club is the thicket Cole clutches at as he tries to drag himself away. Its spines stay buried in his palm while he lies broken in the rain.

In Touching Spirit Bear, Cole flies from Seattle to which real port known as Alaska's First City?

Ketchikan is the nearest place to the island with an airport, so the journey from Seattle lands there first. The real city stands on Revillagigedo Island, named by Captain George Vancouver in 1793.

In Touching Spirit Bear, what does Cole shape into ornaments for his lonely Christmas pine?

Aluminum foil is all he has to decorate the little tree he carries back from the shore. Winter has shut him in the cabin by then, and some nights he cries himself to sleep.

In Touching Spirit Bear, whose claimed sighting near the island backs up Cole's story of the bear?

Fishermen said they saw such a bear off the island the day after Cole was carried away, Edwin tells the hearing. It still takes weeks of meetings before Cole is allowed to go back.

In Touching Spirit Bear, in what building is the hearing held where Peter faces Cole?

A public library hosts the meeting, which is open to the whole community. Peter limps in, visibly terrified of the boy who beat him.

In Touching Spirit Bear, which nickname does Garvey keep using for Cole, even during the rescue?

Champ is what Garvey always calls him, and Cole hears it again as he is carried off the island barely alive. Garvey later admits he sees his own troubled youth in the boy.