A Boy And His Bear

by harriet-graham

Medieval London comes alive in this novel through the experiences of Dickon, a boy who is apprenticed to a tanner after his father's death. Sent on an errand to the master of the London Bear Garden, Dickon sees a bear being cub mistreated by the Garden workers. Determined to free the cub, Dickon faces many terrible dangers along the way.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Childrens, Middle Grade, Adventure, Fiction, Historical

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

Reviews

[Alexander Bauman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the book A Boy and His Bear by Harriet Graham, takes place in the Elizabethan era. The main character's name is Dickon. He is a orange haired boy and is very nice, one example is on (page 35) that page shows how when the bears were let out and then whipped it says a sick sadness crept over him. The next trait he has is determination, on (page 52) this page describes when he meets with his sister to discuss the bear. Ann doesn't want him to go with the bear but he says that he must teach the bear to dance and he must see it no matter what. The third trait is fortunate on (page 191) on that page Dickon is fortunate because the cub stops the bear catcher from doing more harm by knocking him into a river down to a waterfall causing him to die. So Dickon is fortunate his bear cub saved him and Rosa from anymore harm. A boy and his bear is about a boy named Dickon who meets a bear while delivering a letter. Suddenly the bear cub and Dickon become friends with each other. Dickon and his bear are eventually faced with tough challenges and is forced to keep him and his cub safe.

The point of view in the story is limited omniscient and focuses on only the thought of Dickon. This changes the story by showing everything that is going on around the character and a little bit of his thoughts. One of the themes in the story is that a wild animal will always be wild. Throughout the book the cub shows more affection toward the wild. Also the cub acts like it is in the wild for example it catches fishes and drinks from the water and is not fed other meats. Another way showing it is wild is that it did not want to learn the tricks Dickon was trying to teach it because it was not required like it was in nature. Another theme in the book is that friends are always there for you. For example when Dickon had to flee London he made friends with the bouncers / performers because Jacob was going to stay in London. His friends that he made were there for him when he had to make tough decisions. For example when Dickon was deciding whether to go to France or not he had Jacob and Ann over in London and Rosa and Sebastian in France. One mood word that would describe the story is sad. For example when Dickon had to leave the cub's mother to die in the fire, he was sad because he couldn't save it. Another reason is when Dickon was leaving London this was sad because he had lived there all his life and had all his friends and family there. Another mood word for this story would be suspenseful. This is because after the fire Jacob and Dickon and the cub were being chased by a bunch of angry people. Then Dickon had to hide not knowing whether or not he would be captured. Another example was when they were captured by the bear catcher and you wouldn't know what could possibly happen. One quote that meant a lot to me and the characters in the story was "The rope was never long enough." What this means to me was that the bear cub wanted to be free and Dickon was kind of keeping it from it's destiny by having the rope never be long enough for the cub. What this quote means to the characters is that as good as a friend the cub was it was that they didn't realize it just wanted to be free. The rope not being long enough kept from being free which was it's total destiny.
A connection that I have with the character is not liking the abuse of animals. He shows this when the mother bear is fighting and he can't take it and must stop watching. Also when the cub was whipped and helpless after trying to escape he didn't like that and didn't want it to live that life of torture (on page 36). I also don't like cruelty towards animals for example when animals are starved and left for dead I would do the same thing Dickon did. One trait Dickon and I share is kindness, he is kind by trying to save the bear catcher while he is being pulled by the river even after all the damage he had caused on them (on page 192). I am kind by forgiving other when they are wrong and being nice to others even if they are different then some other people. I recommend this book to anyone who likes animals and a good adventure. The things that I liked about this book is that there is a lot of adventure and tough decisions to be made creating pressure. Also I like how the author included the backstory of his life before the life at the tannery. One thing that I didn't like was the less time including his family before and after his father had died. Another thing that I did not like was how the book didn't say much of what happened after everything was over.
SPOILER ALERT
The main climax of the story was on page 107 when Osric burned down the bear barn. Dickon was hiding in the hay when Osric barged in and started to try to kill Dickon and the bear by lighting the barn on fire. This caused Dickon to have to escape to France where Sebastien lives. The resolution of the story is when the bear catcher tries to hurt Rosa and Dickon but suddenly the bear cub charges and backs up the catcher into the river. Since backing up into the river the catcher was thrown down a waterfall to his death. Then Dickon and Rosa realized that the bear wanted to be free so they let the bear go back up to it's home in the mountains. After they let the bear go they went back to their little circus and saw that they were better off without the bear cub and they thrived.

[Shelley Alongi · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a cute story. After everything I’ve been reading lately that was just cute and a breath of fresh air. A bear and a romance. :-) And the bear was a hero. Yes I liked it.

[heather gross]

we are reading this book every night

[Derek Jenkins]

The boy and his bear was a pretty good book so far.It is about a boy that is shipped off to a new master(This is the olden times)His new master,Master tynal had Him working all day.Dickon is constantly nervous because master Tyndall beat him often..........with a cane.Master Tyndall sends Dickon over to The Bear garden to transfer a message.There at the bear garden he sees a fight between the Bears and the humans.The humans couldn't get a baby bear to calm down but Dickon calmed it down.And that's how they became friends

[Kathleen McRae]

This is a great story ,beautifully written and descriptive. I felt I was in Bosnia or Georgian Bay with the main character,Angela as she worked in war torn Bosnia or tried to keep relationships in an increasingly dysfunctional family.

[Alina Hussain]

The book A Boy and His Bear is very more interesting and makes me want to read the book every hour and second of the day.I enjoyed this book because you could understand what it was saying.This is different to other books i have read,i can not tell you one bad thing and the book.

[Tracy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great story. Well written.