Book #34 – The Girl Who Speaks Bear

Prompt – A book with a map.

Medium – Book

About the Book – Yanka is found abandoned in the wilds of Russia as a baby, snuggled in a bear cave. She is taken in by a kind woman from the nearby village, her Mamochka. However, she never feels like she fits in within the village – she is taller and stronger than all the other children of her age, and she starts to hear strange voices from the snow forest, calling her deeper and deeper to find her past. One day, she has to leave her house and runs into the forest, looking for answers about who she really is and what her path in life is. Within the forest, she encounters magical beings and builds a herd of extraordinary animals, as she realises that part of her quest is to vanquish a powerful evil.

My Rating – 9/10. This book wasn’t one that I planned on reading originally. I bought it as a guided reading book for one of my young students, and we read a chapter a session until she broke for the summer. By that time, I was so enjoying myself that I had to read on. I was super pleased that it had a map in the front and so worked with one of the prompts from the reading challenge. Although meant for children, the story is exciting and inspiring – the tale of a girl who doesn’t really fit in and her quest for acceptance and to find where she truly belongs. I really enjoyed the way that the main story was mixed in with traditional Russian-style folk tales. At the beginning of the story, it wasn’t really possible to see how the stories related to the main action of the book, but by the end it was clear that they were integral.

The story is really clever too – giving clues as to the final mystery throughout the book, but not giving it away until the very final few chapters. The characters are great – there weren’t any that I found myself not liking or found a bit irritating. I think the one word I would use to sum up this book is magical – a mix between an adventure-type story and a fairy tale, with plenty of excitement and joy thrown in. I would recommend for those of all ages, not just children. It’s set in a really magical world, and one which I am looking forward to returning to in the prequel and the soon-to-be-released sequel!

Would I read it again? Yes, definitely – and I will definitely continue to use it for teaching too!