frizabell 's review for:

The Last Bear by Hannah Gold

3.75

adventurous emotional hopeful informative reflective fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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April sometimes wondered about other families who just said sorry and if this was easier or harder.

The writing in this is stunning, as are the illustrations and I'm very pleased to have read it. 

Couple of issues: April is very much 'not like other girls' which always makes my eyes roll although it a bit more forgivable given her young age. I like to think she'd grow up to recognise that as a ridiculous concept.
I also sometimes found it a bit difficult to suspend my disbelief. There are some things that happen towards the end of this book

like her surviving the freezing Arctic sea, the bear who was assumed to be killing a child not being shot, them being found (pretty easily) and even just her getting in the boat and thinking it was a reasonable idea

that just brought me back out of it.