Fifth Grade

5th Grade Book review

Sydney talks about the fifth grade read-aloud book of the year — “Touching Spirit Bear.”

By Sydney

Cole Matthews is a bully. One day at school, Cole is bullying a boy named Peter. Cole pushes him on the ground and slams his face against the sidewalk, and Peter is really hurt. A jury decides to send Cole to an island in

Alaska as punishment, but when Cole arrives, the island is lonely and miserable.

After unsuccessfully trying to escape the island, Cole starts to build a totem pole as an apology to both God and Peter. Cole tries to change his behavior, but when Peter comes to the island, he is still scared of Cole

and doesn’t trust him after

their fight. Peter decides to destroy Cole’s totem pole for payback. When Cole finds out that Peter has destroyed his totem pole, Cole wants to fight Peter, but before he does, he stops to think and decides to be kind instead of

fighting back, and he forgives Peter for destroying his totem pole. Because Cole has shown that he’s changed his life, the jury decides to send him home. Once the boys are home, Peter sees that Cole has changed and decides to finally forgive him, and they become friends.

My favorite part of the book is when Cole finally changes his ways. He stops bullying people and decides to have friends. I like this part because I don’t like bullies, and I like to stand up for the people who get bullied like Peter. Peter is my favorite character because he is brave

and forgives Cole for what he did, even though it doesn’t seem like Cole deserves it.

One part of the book I don’t like is the people who bring Cole to the island. I don’t like

these characters because

they are mean to Cole. When they bring him to the island, they push him onto the boat and make him fall. They are mad at Cole because he is a

bully, but then they bully him back.

This book shows us that

we shouldn’t bully because it hurts people’s feelings. Cole changes his ways and becomes kind, and we should follow his example and not bully.

Additional reporting and editing by Macy Voss

Sydney

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE BOOK?

Graveyard Shakes

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE TV SHOW?

Heartland

WHAT DO YOU LIKE TO DO FOR FUN?

Go to Wisconsin with my family and drive four wheelers

WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE SINGER OR BAND?

Bebe Rehxa

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?

Maybe a police officer

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE AFTER SCHOOL SNACK?

Anything I can find in the house

Fifth grade student, Sydney, discusses her thoughts on “Touching Spirit Bear” with Bethel University student, Macy Voss. | Photo by Thanh Nguyen