Bearwalker

by Joseph Bruchac, Sally Wern Comport (Illustrator)

As a member of the Mohawk Bear Clan, Baron has always been fascinated by bears--their gentle strength and untamed power. But the Bearwalker legend, passed down by his ancestors, tells of a different kind of creature--a terrible mix of human and animal that looks like a bear but is really a bloodthirsty monster. The tale never seemed to be more than a scary story. Until now.

During a class camping trip deep in the Adirondacks, Baron comes face-to-face with an evil being that is all too real. Although he knows how the story ends in the legend, Baron must overcome this Bearwalker on his own terms.

Genres: Middle Grade, Fiction, Young Adult, Native American, Horror, Adventure, Fantasy

224 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Joseph Bruchac lives with his wife, Carol, in the Adirondack mountain foothills town of Greenfield Center, New York, in the same house where his maternal grandparents raised him. Much of his writing draws on that land and his Abenaki ancestry. Although his American Indian heritage is only one part of an ethnic background that includes Slovak and English blood, those Native roots are the ones by which he has been most nourished. He, his younger sister Margaret, and his two grown sons, James and Jesse, continue to work extensively in projects involving the preservation of Abenaki culture, language and traditional Native skills, including performing traditional and contemporary Abenaki music with the Dawnland Singers.

He holds a B.A. from Cornell University, an M.A. in Literature and Creative Writing from Syracuse and a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the Union Institute of Ohio. His work as a educator includes eight years of directing a college program for Skidmore College inside a maximum security prison. With his wife, Carol, he is the founder and Co-Director of the Greenfield Review Literary Center and The Greenfield Review Press. He has edited a number of highly praised anthologies of contemporary poetry and fiction, including Songs from this Earth on Turtle's Back, Breaking Silence (winner of an American Book Award) and Returning the Gift. His poems, articles and stories have appeared in over 500 publications, from American Poetry Review, Cricket and Aboriginal Voices to National Geographic, Parabola and Smithsonian Magazine. He has authored more than 70 books for adults and children, including The First Strawberries, Keepers of the Earth (co-authored with Michael Caduto), Tell Me a Tale, When the Chenoo Howls (co-authored with his son, James), his autobiography Bowman's Store and such novels as Dawn Land, The Waters Between, Arrow Over the Door and The Heart of a Chief. Forthcoming titles include Squanto's Journey (Harcourt), a picture book, Sacajawea (Harcourt), an historical novel, Crazy Horse's Vision (Lee & Low), a picture book, and Pushing Up The Sky (Dial), a collection of plays for children. His honors include a Rockefeller Humanities fellowship, a National Endowment for the Arts Writing Fellowship for Poetry, the Cherokee Nation Prose Award, the Knickerbocker Award, the Hope S. Dean Award for Notable Achievement in Children's Literature and both the 1998 Writer of the Year Award and the 1998 Storyteller of the Year Award from the Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers. In 1999, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Native Writers Circle of the Americas.

As a professional teller of the traditional tales of the Adirondacks and the Native peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, Joe Bruchac has performed widely in Europe and throughout the United States from Florida to Hawaii and has been featured at such events as the British Storytelling Festival and the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesboro, Tennessee. He has been a storyteller-in-residence for Native American organizations and schools throughout the continent, including the Institute of Alaska Native Arts and the Onondaga Nation School. He discusses Native culture and his books and does storytelling programs at dozens of elementary and secondary schools each year as a visiting author.

Reviews

[Steve Wiggins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Two favorites brought this book to my attention: books written by American Indians, and the bearwalk, or bearwalker. I find First Nations’ monsters fascinating. Although written for children, as I note elsewhere (Sects and Violence in the Ancient World) there’s some serious stuff in here should children read it. The story follows Baron, a young Mohawk, on his trip to a camp that is being targeted by criminals who want it shut down.

The story makes it clear that stereotyping Indians is wrong-headed. Mohawk doesn’t know about the outdoors and he’s just an ordinary kid, except others bully him because of his ethnicity. (Actually, I suppose that’s unfortunately part of being an ordinary kid. You’d think we’d eventually grow up.) The story is a page-turner. For younger readers it steers clear of certain words and adult concepts like sex. Murder is there, however, and adults threatening kids.

I’ve been enjoying reading horror stories by underrepresented groups. Indians and women, principally. They show us just what a scary world white men have put together. The antagonists are driven by money, of course. And there’s something very true to life about that. This book met my expectations on both fronts and I’ll likely want to read it again.

[Krista the Krazy Kataloguer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this novel by Bruchac, partly because I liked the Mohawk protagonist and partly because it was set in the Adirondacks, near where I live. I found the information on bear behavior interesting--it made me want to read more. I read somewhere recently a conversation on a listserv complaining about the lack of modern technological devices being depicted in children's literature (mostly picture books). I'm happy to say this one included cell phones as central to the plot, although one of the weak points of the story was when the phone still worked even after Baron immersed it in water (while it was in a zippered pocket of his pants). The other weak point in the story was the explosion--surely someone outside the camp would have heard it and come to investigate. Nevertheless, I couldn't put it down and do recommend it.

[Jenna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick, easy read. Fairly enjoyable story. Did kind of have issue with how it was resolved and the villains of the story, they were quite cartoonish, and it was kind of over-exaggerated with how the camp runners would easily resort to killing people.

[Nono Qiu]

I read about BearWalker, it was written by Joseph Bruchac. It is about some people turns half to a bear and attacked people. My favorite part is when one of the teacher in the story read about Jason Jones, he is a monster, half a bear half a person. People make fun of him. So once he get really mad, and kill a lot of people and run away. After he is dead, his ghost attacking people again. That is my favorite part. Author is writing this book is because he want to show people how close is an indian and a bear. It is so cool!
I connected to this book is because my last book is about bears too, I think I am interested in bears. It is hard for us to face a bear or stand between a mother bear and her cubs, you will get in trouble! Of course I will recommend this book because it is scary. People would like to read this book for fun. I hope you can read my review, if you do not know about the mother bear and the cubs. Otherwise you will get in a really big TROUBLE!

[Christian Lenz · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was good !! It was very fascinated . Baron was my favorite person in the book ! I like how i got to learn about the Mohawk langue I learn a lot from this book and more about bears !! Also nature
I recommend this book !! From a scale from one to ten i would give this book a seven.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just because it's a Young Adult book does NOT mean it's NOT a good story. I think some of the best books out there these days are YA books. This book has enough suspense to keep you turning pages till you finish--which I did. And there is an engaging character I cared about-a young Mohawk Indian named Baron. I particularly like how the author, Bruchac, draws on Native American legend. The author himself has Abenaki ancestry. The story is about a class camping trip which goes wrong. Young Baron has to face a life-and death situation--and a monster straight out of Native legend--the "Bearwalker."

[Marmie7 · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fast-paced adventurous story. The main character, Baron, was enjoyable. It was fascinating learning about his Mohawk ancestors and their folktales. I'm looking forward to reading more from this author.

[Uhhh....So Yeah. · Rating 1 out of 5]

Bruchac is like hey did I mention the cannibalistic murderer was a abused child with bipolar and schizophrenia disorder?
Is he trying to be a jerk?
Is he trying to add stigma to those two heavily stigmatized disorders and mental illness in one fell swoop, it’d be him huh?
This ableist jerk isn’t even a great writer. He’s alright but definitely not winning any awards.

Personal note: Another thing. I’m a person who’s been abused, both physically and verbally. It does not make me crazy. It definitely does not make me a murderer. I’ve had depression and anxiety for three years. People think we’re crazy. We can see the fear in their eyes. They’re afraid of us. On the flip side they’re scared of how to act around me. What to say or do that’ll pacify me. I’m hurt and offended. I am not crazy. I am not a murderer. Sometimes, I wish people would understand that. Especially when it comes from someone I don’t expect it to. Like a fellow POC.

[Alex · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my cup of tea. It was a little too violent for me. I started reading it to my class, but it didn’t keep their attention. I was hoping for more explanation of the Native American legends.

[Ajitesh · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story starts off with the author showing a child writing in his journal while being chased by someone. The book then cuts to Baron, the main character, in a classroom by himself complaining about his life which gets interrupted by his teacher, who throughout the story is very sagacious telling him to come outside and get on the bus to go on a field trip. Baron then goes outside, met by his bully Asa,who is quite callow, and his gang who then trip Baron but thankfully he is helped by some of the other kids in his class. They then arrive at camp Chuckamuck where he encounters the main antagonist of the story who is unnamed at this point who scares Baron. Baron then goes to his cabin and then writes in his journal about some stories that were told to him about monsters that are humans turned into bears called Bearwalkers and after that he has to go do normal camp activities. While this is happening we meet the camp director whose name is Mr. Mack and is someone who seems suspicious and we also meet the Philos who are the owners of this camp and were called by someone unknown and we also learn the name of the antagonist who is Walker White Bear. Then there is a power outage and an explosion that causes the only way out of the camp to be blocked and everyone except Mr. Mack and Walker White Bear are stuck in the cabins until eventually Mr. Mack shows up with a lot of injuries caused by Walker. Baron is then sent with a phone to go to a place to get signal and call for help which he does while being chased down by Walker eventually Baron succeeds and it turns out Mr. Mack had been trying to destroy the camp so that he could get paid by the Philo's nephews who wanted to sell that land to private companies and after finding this out they all get arrested with Walker still out there somewhere.
This book really reminds me of a lot of books I've read with the main character being considered weird at the start by his peers but eventually liked. This is a trope I have seen in a book like Wonder where the main character is bullied because of his appearance but is eventually loved by everyone around him. This book also reminds of the current world with many people trying to commit a scam on elderly people to get more money. In this book the nephews of the camp owners try to sell the camp land without their permission and that reminds a lot of the current scams in the world. It also reminds me of the greedy people in the world who want more money and will get it through unethical ways which is pretty much the plot of this story.
I really liked the pacing of the story because of the faster pacing and there wasn't really any part where I felt like it was taking too long. The story really tries to end every chapter with something new and exciting in the next one. The thing I enjoyed the most about this was that even though I was at one event the end of the chapter introduces something else right away. The part of the story I disliked the most was the handling of the characters because it felt like the author just wanted to get rid of the character really quickly. The characters ended up mostly having no development or just being extraneous.

[Ashe · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book encompasses many genres; I think that it best grasps mystery and realistic fiction. This story is about a young Mohawk boy named Baron who lives alone with his grandmother after the disappearance of his father while serving in Afghanistan, his mother is currently serving in the military. Baron has a good relationship with his teachers but struggles to get along with the other students, his class takes a trip to a wilderness camp called Camp Chuckamuck. Here, Baron begins to make friends with some other campers, and he learns about a local tale about the disappearance of a camper from one of the staff members, as well as encountering an unsettling man wearing a bear claw necklace. The necklace is immediately unsettling to Baron, as the man introduces himself as Walker White Bear. Claiming to be native, Baron begins to question his motives for being there. The campers' devices are then confiscated and their journey into the surrounding area begins, the counselors/staff take the campers around the area, teaching them about the connection between native stories and the natural world. The camp seems to get more ominous each day, as the tale continues to haunt him, Baron is facilitated with bears causing him to form a close connection with Mr. and Mrs. Osgood as they connect over cultural heritage. A few days before their time at Camp Chuckamuck is up, disaster occurs, the campers become trapped in the camp woods as a large explosion cuts them off from the rest of the world. Stranded in the woods with no contact, Baron and the counselors have to find a way out and find help before they find out if the tale from earlier was real, or just a story. I liked the book a lot, I related a lot with Baron and his eagerness to connect his Mohawk heritage to the natural world. This book borrows many aspects from actual Mohawk tales and history. As a Mohawk girl, I enjoy digging into the history of the tribe and the stories. With the knowledge I have, this book expresses research of the tribe or for the author's case, being close to the tribe. The author Joseph Bruchac is a member of the Nulhegan Abenaki Nation, which is a native tribe in very close proximity to the Mohawk tribe. This book keeps you engaged while reading, and I enjoyed the feeling of a looming doom floating in the air, no idea when it could occur. This simple style of writing, introducing a horrible tale early on makes all the exploration in the area much more exciting to read. After reading, I felt like the author wrote this to give Mohawk stories and cultural significance a better light, overall, he got the point across in a way that fed into the story and message of the book. I would recommend this book as it is a story of many genres, giving different aspects to a lot of readers depending on how you interpret it. I would give this book 4.5 stars.

[Izzie Driftwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

Found this book after using an excerpt of the preface for a reading group. A horror fan, I'm always up for a spooky story, especially ones that include mythology. Tightly written, it holds interest and is my favorite of Bruchac's I've read so far. It definitely reads more thriller/mystery than true horror, but a great one with a good message for middle grade readers. It also answered some questions that went unanswered from the preface, which I'll not share to prevent spoilers.

Only disappointment? How much I had to dig around to find a new copy! In my efforts, I've now gotten two copies. Extra handy so I can lend interested students a copy and keep one on hand when I use this again for book study.

Curious to see if it would be as compelling in a more mature novel for older readers ...

[Karen GoatKeeper · Rating 4 out of 5]

What is a bearwalker? Baron knows such a one to be a man who walks as a bear and does so from greed and is evil.
Baron is a Mohawk, the school scapegoat. He dreads the class camp outing even though he loves to be outdoors.
Camp Chuckamuck is ten miles out a rutted dirt road, no cell service, no internet service. And shortly after everyone arrives, the road is dynamited stranding them at the Camp.
This is a fast, easy book to read. It is definitely a thriller for a younger audience and rather predictable for older readers. It's still an enjoyable book about growing up and gaining confidence in yourself.

[David Hilton · Rating 4 out of 5]

An easy, engaging middle level book, Joseph Bruchac's Bearwalker picks apart some Native American stereotypes in this variation on the well-trod summer camp spooky story. Bruchac connects to the Mohawk legend of the part-human/part-bear through the eyes of his Mohawk protagonist, the scrawny, friendless Baron. Baron loves bears and respects his adventurous teacher, Mr. Wilbur. He is also a world-class eavesdropper. Overall a fun tale that I think kids will like.

[Becky · Rating 1 out of 5]

Read this for Indigenous Peoples Month... But was very disappointed. Along with slur at the beginning, the villain is depicted as having multiple mental illnesses that cause him to do the evil things he does. I'm fairly certain this was sent to me in a bundle for 4th-5th graders and it was way too dark for that age range.

For me, the story telling was also lacking. The MC is writing in a journal, but I found it difficult to tell if we were in a flashback or where in the present we were.

[Christy J-Furem · Rating 4 out of 5]

A suspenseful read for younger audiences with great life advice throughout. The main character, a young boy from the Mohawk nation, is level-headed, perceptive, and a role model for his peers even though he's bullied. His life experiences have prepared him well for a night of terror and survival at Camp Chuckamuck. The author's narration is sensitive and intelligent.

[Sunny Barrus · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this to see if I wanted it as a read aloud in class. While it was engaging and exciting, some of my students may be nervous or frightened through parts of the story. I won’t be reading it aloud to all my students, but I will definitely recommend it to students who enjoy a scary story.

[Kristi Lowery · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great story of suspense and danger that weaves in some other interesting details. Bears, monsters and a good narrative. Things really pick up about midway through and there is a nice ending making it age appropriate.

[Devon C]

good book quick and easy but still good good plot and storyline and i love the characters I would recommend the book to a middle schooler but not high schooler its to easy of a book to read with 208 pages

[Gregory Pedersen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book didn't resonate as strongly with me as some of Bruchac's previous works. It was reminiscent of a Goosebumps-style tale in some parts, and it felt rushed and underdeveloped when it came to the plot. I had to remind myself though, this book was written for a middle grade audience, so that likely explains some of the shortcomings for me. It was still an entertaining story overall.

[Allie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not going to lie - I got a little scared at times. This is a middle grade book that was well written and I enjoyed it. Both of my boys had to stop reading it because they got too scared, so I figured that I should probably figure out what I've been giving them to read.

[Shana · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little slow in the beginning, but then it picked up and I enjoyed it.

[Johanna Onofre · Rating 3 out of 5]

kind of spooky book with things that are real

[Ellie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very quick read for me about a boy who goes to camp and has some very strange experiences.

[Gina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fast-paced and pretty relatable, even as the adventure part kicks into high gear.

[Tyler Grooters · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is Science-Fiction, and is extremely intense. It takes about 80 pages for the action to start, but from then, on, I couldn't put the book down.

[Flesha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of action
Native American overtones
Nature
Unlikely young hero
Good vs Evil
Lots to love here.

[Mary L. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this YA adventure!

[Anna Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Forgot I had already read this one.

[Janessa Jolly · Rating 4 out of 5]

My son read this recently and wanted me to read it. Good for a middle grade mystery adventurous scary type book. For an adult, not the most exciting. 4 stars because it's not meant for adults.