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SEPTEMBER 20, 2006: Beverly Slapin's review of Ben Mikaelsen's Touching Spirit Bear
Editor's Intro to Slapin's Review: American society loves to love Indians and things-Indian. Or rather, things they think are Indian. There’s a long history of exploiting our ways of being. Touching Spirit Bear is another example of that exploitation. You don’t have to buy or read it. There are better books available. To find them, visit the Oyate website.
[Note: This review is used here with permission of the author, Beverly Slapin. It may not be published elsewhere without her written permission.]
For centuries, restorative justice or circle justice has been practiced in one form or another by many Indian communities. The object is to restore the wellbeing of the victim or the victim’s family, rather than to punish the offender. This is done through a multi-step talking-circle approach, in which the people most affected by the crime, along with community representatives, come together to heal and to try to agree on a fair and reasonable settlement. The sentencing plan involves commitment by the community, family members, and the offender. In 1996, a pilot circle justice project, in conjunction with the criminal justice system, was initiated in Minnesota
In Touching Spirit Bear, Cole Matthews is an angry, out-of-control Minneapolis
Ben Mikaelsen’s writing, in places, is evocative and a dead-on accurate portrayal of a troubled teen. After the bear near-fatally mauls Cole, there are excruciatingly detailed descriptions of his struggles to survive by eating worms and bugs, a live mouse and even his own vomit. With broken ribs, legs and an arm, and too weak to get up, he defecates in his pants, and fights to stay alive. It is during this time that Cole begins to understand his vulnerability and his relationship to everything that surrounds him. It is here that his transformation begins.
All of this having been said, Touching Spirit Bear is fatally flawed by Mikaelsen’s inexcusable playing around with Tlingit culture, cosmology and ritual; and his abysmal lack of understanding of traditional banishment. It is obvious that what he doesn’t know, he invents. Edwin, the Tlingit elder, instructs Cole to: jump into the icy cold water and stay there as long as possible; pick up a heavy rock (called the “ancestor rock”) and carry it to the top of a hill; push the rock (now called the “anger rock”) back down the hill; watch for animals and dance around the fire to impersonate the animal he sees (called the “bear dance,” “bird dance,” “mouse dance,” etc.); announce what he’s learned about the characteristics of that animal from his dance; and finally, carve that animal on his own personal “totem pole.”
This is all garbage. The purpose of banishment is to isolate a person so that, in solitude, he can think deeply about his life and relations, and prepare to rejoin his community. When someone is banished, he is left to learn on his own whatever is to be learned. It is not about white boys “playing Indian.” It is not about teaching white boys the rituals of another culture. And most especially, it is not about carrying rocks up a hill and performing a bunch of stupid cross-cultural animal impersonation dances.
The author’s own relationship with bears and his supposed almost-close-enough-to-touch encounter with a “three-hundred-pound male Spirit Bear” notwithstanding, Touching Spirit Bear is a terrible book.
—Beverly Slapin
I can totally understand the focus of the Native American critique of Touching Spirit Bear as violating some of the precepts of the Native American Culture. Still, with that in mind, "Touching Spirit Bear" is the most powerful adolescent novels dealing with teenage anger and hostility. If this novel has even helped one teenager ridden with angst, it makes this book a giant success. Ben Mikaelson's writing style carries tremendous power and self-reflection. Though this book has some flaws in its depiction of the Tinglit culture, it is a must read for so many!
ReplyDeleteI believe you have misunderstood the purpose of the book. It is a powerful book rich in figurative language. Cole IS NOT a white boy playing Indian nor does Mikaelsen pretend to know all about the Tlingit culture. He uses what he has learned from his research to portray a troubled teen's journey toward freedom from anger and despair. He never totally achieves that freedom in this book, and that is intentional for one never really totally loses anger. As Mikaelsen shows, it's all in how we look at life. Shouldn't we all take and savor life one day at a time. Or, did you miss that message?
ReplyDeleteI was sadden to read the negative comment about this book. I've used this book for 9th graders for two years. Each year it has had a positive impact on more than one student. I take my time reading it to them,allowing them time to reflect on their own lives. We all realize I think that this is book of fiction, based on some facts...but with many great truths about life and identity. CS, Jacksonville FL
ReplyDeletePersonally, I thought this was a great book. It really doesn't matter if the author follows all of the Native customs and rituals, it matters if the author can portray his message. And he completely did that. You should have seen that this was a book that has a lot to teach everyone.
ReplyDeleteI personally though the whole thing was just horribly written. Good if it's helped some people, but I was not impressed with any aspect of the characterization or prose.
ReplyDeleteI generally struggle with books written about a culture by those who are` not part of that culture. I know very little about the Native American culture, and therefore don't know what is accurate or not. That said, I hate this book. It is so poorly written to be almost laughable. The characters are`poorly developed, the plotline makes little sense. As I read, I kept thinking, "this is stupid". As a Young Adult Librarian, I read many many books for teens. I can't imagine this book speaking to troubled teens in any way. Bear, on the other hand, may enjoy it.
ReplyDeleteI am a 7th grade English teacher and my Pre-AP classes are reading Touching Spirit Bear currently. It is a FICTION book and I may need to be corrected but fiction rarely is exact when it comes to facts. I can tell you this.... my students are so captivated by Cole's story and have been able to relate to him so easily. I will continue to teach using this book but I am sad to hear the negative comments about it. Something students can do is research the Tlingit people and then compare their research to the story, then you can have a conversation about fact and fiction!
ReplyDeleteI am horrified by this book. I am reading this book with my 11 year old son who has been assign this book in class and has been complaining that he is getting sick every time he reads from it. Thinking this was just his way of getting out of reading, I took it upon my self to read with him. After reading Chapters 8-12, I ended up in the bathroom with dry heaves.
ReplyDeleteI have never read such morbid literature before, shame on any one for thinking this is what an 11 year old should be reading.
I absolutely loved this book. As stated before it is a fiction book that is meant to be fiction to teach about overcoming personal trials. I applied what the author taught in this book and I am nearly 30 years old. People need to stop looking for reasons to be offended and look at what the book teaches. I borrowed it from my brother who has his 6th graders read it every year and I just bought it after reading it. One of the best books I have read in a long time!
ReplyDeleteI have used this in my classroom for several years with underperforming students to 9 honors. It connects with students regarding self-responsibility and personal growth. I teach many "Cole Matthews" and am grateful for an opportunity to show that there is hope for change and redemption and this book helps show that "Every saint has a past every sinner has a future."
ReplyDeleteDry heaves? Please. Let us not be so dramatic. This book is well written. I'm an English teacher and plan on using it with my 6th graders (it's part of the curriculum for our county). Yes the parts describing Cole after he's been attacked are disgusting, but I can't imagine it sending any of my students to the bathroom to vomit. There is a lot of figurative language in the book which is great for getting kids to use their imagination. I can't wait to start this novel with my students.
ReplyDeleteHOW TYPICAL OF YOU...
ReplyDeleteThe book uses a justice system which has been around for hundreds of years like the existing cultures and people of the Athebascan. Authentication and research of the facts concerning the peoples of which Mikaelsen writes exist today. How hard or unorthodox would it be to tell the facts, or, by some miracle, have the respect to ask if you can lie about them? The word culture is used too loosely, and respect of a culture is used very little. Those who accept to teach fallacies are oblivious to knowing or having a culture to be proud of and BELIEVE IN.
Thank you for this thoughtful critique. I am forever searching for fiction that both appeals to students and respectfully represents native cultures.
ReplyDeleteWhile I agree that the depiction of a young man coming to terms with his anger, his responsibility for his actions and his ultimate redemption is valuable for young people to read, I do not agree that the cost of one more bastardization of native traditions is one we should be willing to pay for a compelling plot line.
The message of individual redemption at the expense of collective history and culture is not a fair trade. Let's get books into our students hands that are culturally relevant and just not simply compelling.
As someone who works with at risk kids, I have found this book to be more powerful and moving than most (with perhaps the exception of 13 Reasons Why and Hate List). Are there mistakes about the culture? Most likely.... anyone who is not directly part of a culture is bound to make them; however, the message is powerful and so much more important. As others have suggested, it is a simple matter of having students research themselves how the culture and traditions work (kill 2 birds with 1 stone - teach the importance of representing cultures fairly and accurately AND work on valuable reseraching skills using multiple formats of information). If we want to be picky, we can certainly be upset with the depiction of virtually any culture in any book. To the mom upset about the content.... be sure to have your child avoid virutally any literature about war, dystopian societies, adventures, fantasy.... well pretty much anything other than teen girl romance!
ReplyDeleteall of you peeps saying this book is stupid are so selfish. it dosent matter if the book containes some mistakes that nobody is going to notice. look at the meaning or message that the book says. this is such a intelligently made book and am going to highly recommend it. ......although the ending is a bit of a clifhanger..its still a good book.
ReplyDeleteSome of you are missing the point of Slapin's review, which is to point out the cultural inaccuracies of the book. It is irresponsible for authors to pretend to know a culture enough to write about it, thus destroying the authenticity of a person's heritage and oftentimes being hugely offensive to an entire group of people. For instance, the totem pole is a sacred and spiritual artifact for indigenous cultures. To use it as a symbol in a fictional account of a angsty teenage white kid, without understanding its deep implications is just wrong. There are ways in which to write an account of a teenager coming to grips with his rage without offending an entire tribe.
ReplyDeleteDespite any cultural misperceptions (check out Dr.Seuss if you want to get into a discussion about that....), it is good writing. It is NOT for everyone. It is certainly not my opinion of a whole class novel for students lower than eighth grade due to text complexity AND content. My 11 year old daughter has been required to be exposed to, process, and be assessed (in a pop quiz about a chapter that had not been discussed in class yet) a book about physical and emotional abuse, explicit, gruesome details of an animal mauling of a young boy, alcoholism, and suicide.....ummm, we are still getting over the Wizard of Oz at our house....REALLY people???? Not everybody allows their kids watch adult movies and play Call of Duty on their iPad. Bad choice teachers.....maybe put it in your class library with a disclaimer or teach it in a higher grade level. Thanks for the sleepless nights.....
ReplyDeleteTlingit don't exist for the benefit of bad teenagers.
ReplyDeleteSorry I seem to be late to this party. I've known about Touching Spirit Bear for years, but have avoided reading it, until just this week. I'd read about it here, and in Clare Bradford's essay, and figured that I would not like it. Now I have read it, and I do not like it. The book bothered me. Many of the comments here bother me. Some who defend the book use the argument that reading it is helpful for many troubled young readers, so any minor factual inaccuracies don't matter. There seems to be some formula that can be used to balance the benefits against the harms; I don't know what that formula is. The harms do seem to be undervalued by those who make the argument. I have to ask: if thousands of sports fans are made happy by acting out an ugly caricature, does that joy outweigh the tragedy of dehumanizing whole groups of people? How many happy fans balance one young suicide? What exactly is the Stereotype to Redemption exchange rate--and is it a fair transaction?
I am fairly certain that I am not the only Tlingit person who has been informed, as soon as his tribal affiliation is discovered, that "Ooh! I loved Touching Spirit Bear." This has happened to me, more than once, if not in these exact words. That it is intended as a positive statement does not erase the realization that a whole culture is reduced to a couple of characters. (And worse, that these are characters whose creator claims that their culture is not relevant to the important matter of his book.) One wonders how many young readers (or adult readers--many of them teachers, apparently) put down this book, fiction or not, believing that at.oow is kind of like Linus Van Pelt's comic-strip blanket, or that Tlingit villagers can cure a sociopath by letting him dance out his feelings after dinner.
The book may indeed by helpful for some troubled youth. I can't say, but I don't like the cost. Touching Spirit Bear would have been better if the whole Tlingit angle had been left out. The character of Edwin, the Tlingit elder, was more Hippie than Tlingit. Garvey, the parole officer, could have been anyone from Southeast Alaska. Rosey, the Tlingit nurse, was believable, as were the teenagers who carried the stretcher: they would have been acceptable as irrelevant Indians. I read that the author claimed that Touching Spirit Bear was not based on the controversial real-life Tlingit banishment case that hit the national news a few years before his book; neither have I seen any mention of the real-life Circle Peacemaking Program in the Tlingit village of Kake (rhymes with Drake): so it must be assumed that the Tlingit connection in Touching Spirit Bear is mere New-Age appropriative garbage.
Thanks, Mike!
ReplyDeleteI'm sharing your response on social media.
I really disagree with you I am an 11 year old in middle school and one of my teacher is reading this book to my class and I think it is an amazing book. Sorry for the disagreement.
ReplyDeleteTHIS BOOK IS S___
ReplyDeleteit ws simply GARBAGE.
it insulted native cultures and made lies about tlingits.
IT SUX
What a strange approach to this powerful book to say it should not be read by students. It is if saying the Koran should not be read because of its passages of Antisemitism, or Huck Finn for its passages of racism. The proper thing to do in all cases is to probe the errors and inaccuracies such as they are, contextualize them as need be, and then get the benefits of the work as a whole. It is what I do with my students. Is there a problem with that?
ReplyDeleteAs an 8th grade teacher, I've taught TSB several times. In fact I'm all set to start it tomorrow. Reading Slapin's review that was suggested to me, and doing some homework (long overdue) I see myself agreeing with your comment the most. I think it is much more important to teach our students to be critical readers themselves, than to press delete on certain books. In Social Science lessons I do this regularly. But in fiction I am not as careful, since the inaccuracies of TSB missed me for sure. Cut to the chase, I am going to move forward with the novel tomorrow. But I will start it off with an activity about how this is fiction, how there are inaccuracies, and I will bring in research about Tlingit culture, so the students will get accurate information. Thank you for your comments, and I hope others find this to be a suitable way to address this conflict.
DeleteWhile the text is fiction, the exploitation of Indigenous ways of being is never ok. As is mentioned at the start of the critique, there are better and more contemporary options written by Indigenous authors: “Elastoe” by Darcy Little Badger, “Marrow Thieves” and “ Funeral Songs for Dying Girls” by Cherie Dimaline, “When We Play Our Drums They Sing” by Richard Van Camp - to name a few
ReplyDelete