A review by poplartears
The Bears of Blue River by Charles Major

3.0

We were a little unsure about this book at first and the children wondered aloud if this was going to just be a book about a boy killing bears. And well, it was. But it was a very exciting book about a boy killing bears. The excitement and adventure was almost too much for a bedtime read and the kids every night asked for more. It was a very fun read but sometimes I felt as if Mr Major was unsure of his characters or even his genre. The story seemed to veer from historical fiction into the realm of fairy tale occasionally. And though Balser is said to be a young boy of 13 I was forced to wonder if Mr Major knew any 13 year old boys. Balser sometimes seemed much much older, which I would attribute to hard frontier life except that at other times he seemed hardly more mature than an 8 year old. A good read despite some of the inconsistencies.