The Year of the Bear

Thirteen-year-old Jason is on the cusp of manhood, striving to find his place at school and at home-especially after his mother has abandoned them and his father is left to deal with his own anger.

When Jason and his father encounter a bear while out hunting, they shoot and kill it, not realizing that they have left a cub without its mother. When Sasquot of the Penobscot Tribe, a part of the Bear Family, discovers what they have done, he decides that Jason needs a lesson in caring for God's creatures. Thus begins a year that Jason will never forget as he begins to care and train the cub in order for it to survive. As Jason forms a bond with the bear, he, in turn, learns valuable lessons for life.