HarperCollins The Last Bear

I knew I would love this book. I was certain of it. It has everything I love in a children's story: a fierce main character, child-animal friendship, wilderness setting, and a very important message. I wasn't expecting to want to bawl my eyes out in the end but hey, this is what happens when a book is nothing short of perfect.I hope many children read this book. I also hope many adults read this book. It is exactly the book the world needs right now, more than ever. It is about the connection between humans and nature, the difference a single voice can make and the need to protect what should be considered the most precious thing we have as humans: the planet.It should be an essential read for all kids and I hope librarians and school teachers add it to their reading lists. I hope booksellers feature it everywhere they can and that it gets hype from all sides. It deserves it. Some books don't, not really, but this one does. It does not just because of what it represents but also because it can perhaps help kids realise what they are capable of doing. They're the future of this planet and they're the ones that will suffer the most if everything stays the same. I think it will inspire many to go on and have careers in sustainability and conservation. It will teach them to love the wild and that it's okay to love animals more than people.I wish this book existed when I was a child and I am just so lucky to have read it as an adult.

My 7 yo son and I read this exquisite book together - a couple of chapters each bed time- over a couple of delicious weeks. April’s adventures are compelling, and the story is a great one. but the deeper themes of dealing with grief, personal and for the planet... and the rallying cry to do something about climate change... it’s masterful. Every child (and grown up for that matter) will love this. I was in floods of tears for the final few chapters- so moving it was. I said to James “I don’t think I can keep reading this, I’m crying too much” ... my wise little soul replied “ yes you can Mum- you can read it, you just need to cry too”.Here’s James’ thoughts on the book:“I really liked the book because it was really compelling. It was hard to go to bed between chapters. I particularly liked when April first met Bear. When they were climbing up the mountain, that was a bit risky... I don’t think I’d like to do that! It was sad to learn about what was happening for the polar bears and the melting ice caps. I’m going to try to do something about climate change but I’m worried that I won’t be old enough and it’ll either be fixed or melted by the time I’m grown up. You should definitely read this book with your kids.”One of the great gifts of the time we spent with Bear was that my little man got to see me vulnerable, to understand the feelings I have about the planet, why I do the work I do, and how frustrating grown ups can be sometime. We got so close during our Bear weeks. I feel like it’s been a little pocket of something deeply precious for us. Hannah - you are a magician. I’ll be forever grateful for helping me to have some conversations with my little man that I would never have been able to start without Bears help.

It's a long time since I read a children's book and much longer since a book brought me to tears.This is such a beautiful tale of a girl's search for friendship, understanding and a relationship with a lost polar bear, and her own father. Dad is a workaholic grieving father, and she has the opportunity to explore their temporary home on Bear Island in Arctic Circle. What she finds there will change her life.I loved the two main characters in this book - April and the bear. Her curiosity, kindness and empathy lead her to become best friends with the bear and to want to help him find his own kind again.Hannah Gold has a deft and gentle touch as the relationship between the two develops, and April finds a way to communicate with this huge, beautiful but lost animal.Pivotal to the story is the reality of climate change and effect it's having firstly on the polar bear population, and on the planet as a whole. April knows she has to do something, and knowing it, she takes action. I wanted to make the read last, but soon I couldn't put it down.This book will remind readers they too can do something, even though climate change is such a massive issue for us all to tackle. I defy you not to be inspired by this wonderful story. Read the book, share it with young friends and family members, and like April, never forget that you too can be part of changing our relationship with the Earth and all its creatures.

This is an enchanting book for children - but it doesn't shy away from very difficult and pertinent issues - in particular, the question of climate change and what it's doing to life on our planet: but it also explores the loss of a parent, and what that does to the remaining parent as well as the child.If that all sounds very heavy, it's really not. April goes to Bear Island in the Arctic Circle with her father, a scientist. Sh's initially delighted, because school and making friends really aren't easy for her, and because she thinks that, as they will be the only two people on the island, it will bring herself and her father closer together - they'll make snowmen, they'll explore, they'll observe wildlife together etc. But none of this happens: her father is too busy, but also he's too wrapped up in his grief at the loss of his wife to be able to peoperly see April.She's disappointed, but she's a resourceful child, so she goes off on her own to explore. In particular, she believes that there might be a polar bear on the island - even though she's been told that there can't be, because sinsce the ice has been receding, bears can no longer reach Bear Island from Svalbard further north. And she turns out to be right.The story of how she and the bear get to know each other, and how she helps it to regain its health and strength, is magical but also convincing (though not something to try at home!) I won't tell you what happens at the end, but trust me, your heart will be in your mouth. And April's adventure also, in the end, brings her closer to her father - who finally wakes up and actually 'sees' her.The book is beautifully illustrated too. A wonderful read for children from 8-12 or thereabouts. (I'm a lot older than that, and I loved it!)

Oh boy. Ok before I start I just want to say that I'm 37 years old, so I'm not exactly the target audience for this book. That said, it is probably the most beautiful wonderful book I've ever read. The illustrations are wonderful, the story is beautiful. I keep saying the words beautiful and wonderful over and over again and I don't even CARE because it's just so beautifully wonderful.If I'd been able to read this when I was about 12, I'd probably be working as a glaciologist in Svalbard by now. Maybe I still could? Anyway, I loved this book and I'm going to read it every year until someone prises it out of my cold, dead, frozen glaCIOLOGIST HANDS!!!!