Emory's Gift by W. Bruce Cameron

It was a lovely afternoon in Seattle yesterday, and I was able to sit out in the garden (in my coat) in a beam of Fall sunshine and finish reading Emory's Giftby W. Bruce Cameron. 

I admit that I am drawn in to choosing a book to read by an animal on the cover.  This book has a fantastical premise, with a grizzly bear who befriends a boy.  Nobody should really be hanging out with bears as if they are not wild animals - it's a total fantasy, folks.  But a charming fantasy nonetheless.

Charlie Hall is a boy much in need of a friend, having tragically lost his mother to cancer and living with a Dad still lost in his own grief.  Their silent mealtimes are painful on the page, surely more painful to live through.  Charlie is also carrying the burden of a feeling that he failed his mother in a significant way at the end. 

He's also at that terrifying and confusing age of going from middle school to junior high; I shudder to even remember how scary that time was.  He's got a secret, a Dad he can't really talk to, and a whole new landscape to navigate at school.  How is a boy to survive?

Then one day he is out at the creek by his house and meets a grizzly bear who is unlike any other grizzly bear.  He has a softness to his eyes and a gentleness in his demeanor - nope, not a real bear.  When Charlie writes his name in the creek's bank, the bear writes, as well.  He writes "Emory." 

Thus begins a friendship that will help Charlie get through his grief, reconnect with his Dad, and survive junior high.  Emory is the catalyst that changes a whole community.

Suspend your disbelief and just enjoy this book for what it is - a fabulous read.

Emory's Gift