Ginny+Sandschafer-Taylor+Rauch

Adult: Taylor Rauch Student: Ginny Sandschafer Book Title: Touching Spirit Bear Pages Read: 79-157
 * Week 3**

The main character, Cole Matthews has a side that most people don’t see. When he was all alone he was terrified. He is normally “not afraid of anything.” He didn’t want to die! When he made this choice he suddenly saw the world around him in a new way. The world seemed to be full of things that were helpless. He wasn’t helpless, so he was going to live.

Cole reminds me of people on TV shows that lie to people to make them do what they want. Cole lied to the Circle Justice about being sorry for hurting Peter. After the Spirit Bear mauled him he was truly sorry. No one believed him. I wouldn’t have believed him either after he lied so many times before.

If I could have one personality trait of Coles it would have to be determination. When Cole was mauled by a bear he could really move, but he forced himself to eat and drink and just stay alive. He had the determination to live and would not give up until he was dead. Also he was determined to make everyone believe him about the Spirit Bear and being sorry. He didn’t want people to have to see it to believe it, he wanted them to believe it in their hearts.

I would not like to be friends with this character because Cole in general scares me. Just the way that I imagine he looks like and the thought of him beating up other kids scares me. I also hate hanging around people who think that they are better than everyone else. I imagine that as the book goes on I will grow to like him more and more and by the end I will want to be his friend.

Taylor, I don’t know about you but I was shocked at the drastic way Cole changed. I really believe that Cole wants to change and is truly sorry. I think that he is just looking for a way to let other people know that he wants to change for real this time. Since he lied to them before it won’t be easy to win them over, but I think that Cole will be able to do it with the help of a few friends. I am really happy at the way the book is turning out. I was afraid that the book was going to just be violence and that it was going to be a boring book. I am glad that Cole decided to change and try to become a better person. So how is being a senior? How much homework do you have each night? I hope that you are enjoying school as much as I am. I hate the school work, but hanging out with all my friends is what I look forward to each and everyday. Who are your friends? I have to many friends to count. I can’t even name them all at once. I hope you are as lucky as me. Well have a good almost May!!

Looking forward to the end of school and meeting you,

Ginny

Hey, so I requested membership for the wiki and it still is saying I can’t send you anything on there yet so I will just email you for now until it works. I’m very sorry!!

In the next section of the book Cole is still out on the Island alone and almost to near death. He is eating worms and grass trying to stay alive. I think this is the turning point of the book because he realizes that he has been doing wrong and if he wouldn’t of acted like this, then he would not be in this position. Also, spirit bear comes back and does not hurt Cole at all and Cole touches him feeling his warmth and then spirit bear leaves once again. Finally Garvey and Edwin save Cole and take him where he can get help for all his broken bones. Also in the book the circle of justice cannot decide whether to let Cole go back on the Island or not and in the end they let him go back. Cole has to build his own house though this time since he burnt down the first one. Edwin takes Cole to a pond every morning to try to get Coles anger to go away. I hope that this time on the Island will help Cole in the future.

I get a lot of homework in High School but usually it depends on your classes. Being a senior is fun because finally you’re the oldest in the school and you don’t really have to worry about anyone else. Some of my friends are Katie White, Alexandria McDaniel, Calla Neibrugge, Jessica Long, Jessica and Jenna Zuber, Kerstine Kerner and that’s just naming a few!! Are you ready for high school?? Hope you have a great day hun!

Taylor J

In the book Cole is trying to start his life over and let people know that they can trust him. He was brought back to the island and was forced to start over. Every morning he would go soak in a pond of freezing water and climbed a hill carrying a rock and rolled away his anger. He wanted to let everyone he knew know that he was sorry for what he had done. No one wanted to believe him though, because he had lied to them so many times before. When his time on the island was almost up and Cole was a new person he heard about Peter. Peter had tried to commit suicide. Cole wanted more than anything to help Peter and let Peter trust him. So Cole came up with the idea to have Peter come to the island to see the importance in life and know that someone cared about him and did not want him to die. Peter’s parents allowed him to come to the island, but on one condition, Peter and Cole were now allowed to be alone together. After awhile Peter started to trust Cole and they became awkward friends. This was not how I imagined the ending at all. I thought that Peter would try to commit suicide on the island and Cole would stop him and Peter would have to move back with his parents. I never expected them to ever become friends, even awkward friends. I enjoyed the book because it showed how many things that people do wrong isn’t necessarily their fault but maybe it is all that they know. I also enjoyed it because I could connect to some of the things that Cole felt and thought. I think that anyone would like this book except for maybe a few girls that are in the romance. This book would be a great lesson for many people and I thought that it was a good book. I think that the author was trying to say that people shouldn’t take life for granted and life throws us some unexpected events in our life that sometimes we don’t understand. If I could ask the author one question I would want to know what inspired him to write this book. Did something happen like this in his life or was this just an idea.

Thanks for reading the book, //Touching Spirit Bear// with me. I hope that you enjoyed as much as I did. Thank you for your time.

Ginny J

In the last section of Touching Spirit Bear, Cole went back to the Island. This time Cole had to build his own cabin and cook his own food for him, Garvey, and Edwin. Edwin showed Cole the pond where he would go everyday to soak and to take his anger away. Also he would carry up the ancestor rock and push it back down again. Garvey and Edwin finally left Cole by himself on the Island, and they only visited a few times. When Cole would see an animal he would do a dance around the fire and would learn something different about every dance. He also would carve the animals into a totem pole one animal including, spirit bear. To see spirit bear Cole found out that he had to be invisible. Finally in the end, Cole figured out that he wanted to be a better person and wanted people to trust him. When Edwin came to visit Cole he told Cole that Peter was not doing well and was trying to commit suicide. Cole came up with the idea that Peter should come to the island to experience everything Cole had. Peter came to the Island along with his parents, Edwin, and Garvey. Peter did not trust Cole and either did his parents. In the end, Peter starts trusting Cole more and knows that Cole is not going to hurt him.

Ginny,I enjoyed reading this book and it actually was really good!!

Taylor