Touching Spirit Bear

Fifteen-year-old Cole Matthews, a chronically angry juvenile offender, is given a choice: jail or banishment to a remote Alaskan island through Circle Justice, a Tlingit-inspired restorative justice program. Cole burns down his shelter, tries to swim away, and is mauled nearly to death by a mysterious white Spirit Bear. During his long recovery, something shifts. He returns to the island, learns to soak in a freezing pond, carry an ancestor rock up a hill, and slowly dismantle the rage that has governed his life — rage rooted in years of abuse by his alcoholic father. When his victim, Peter Driscal, arrives on the island in desperation, Cole must prove that transformation is real by helping the boy he once nearly killed.

Cole Matthews is fifteen, furious, and untouchable. He has been in and out of juvenile detention for years, escalating from vandalism to assault. When he beats classmate Peter Driscal so severely that Peter suffers permanent brain damage and develops a speech impediment, Cole faces serious prison ti...