Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a free advanced copy of this book to read and review.

I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. What a great book for kids and even adults about being yourself and learning about the plight of the polar bear.

I really enjoyed this book about grief and climate change. It's really sweet and a great read for kids ages 8-11.

A heartfelt middle grade novel that celebrates a love of nature and conservationism as well as deals with grief and coping.

April is an 11 year old girl who, with her father, moves for 6 months to an island in the Arctic Circle called Bear Island, but due to the ice caps melting there are no longer Polar Bears there... or are there?
Infused with a layer of magic and wonder, this book explores what it means to take care. Take care of yourself, take care of others, and take care of your world. The message is that even if you can't do a lot, the little you can do matters. I love that message for children and parents alike that our actions have consequences, good or bad.

TW: Parental Loss

I received an electronic ARC from HarperCollins Children's Books through NetGalley.
Gold's debut novel offers a tender look at a young girl who doesn't fit in. Her dad is so deep in grief since her mom's death seven years ago that she is on her own. He takes a job on Bear Island in the Arctic Circle as a researcher. The two will spend six months alone there. The fantasy portion kicks in when April meets and befriends an injured polar bear who is trapped on the island due to the melting ice caps. The two enjoy daily adventures exploring the island. As their time together comes to a close, she develops a plan to return him to a habitat with other polar bears.
Readers see April mature and find her voice as she gains confidence from unusual friendship. She gains the courage to tell her dad how she feels about him and how he treats her. By the end, they are on their way home and on their way to healing.
This is a quick read that combines a fantastic adventure with the tenderness of grief and healing and certainly an underlying activist message. Gold's style pulls readers in. They will feel the physical cold as well as the emotional barriers that feel cold. I look forward to more books from this author.

A sweet, simple debut with a lot of heart. The story of April and the bear she meets while living on Bear Island (a real island in the Arctic Circle) is endearing and poignant. Young animal lovers will thoroughly enjoy this novel. The only aspect of the story that kept me from liking it more was that while April and Bear's story was full of emotion, I found little depth in the story of April and her father. A little more time spent fleshing out their relationship would have helped my investment in the overall arc of the narrative.
Overall it was a nice, quick read that I would recommend to any animal loving child I know, but perhaps not to every middle grade loving adult.

The Last Bear is intriguing from the very first page. Gold presented a story that is not only highly entertaining, but also informative, heartwarming, and heartbreaking at the same time. This book is infused with the reality of global warming's affects on the polar ice caps, and of course polar bears. There is a lot of factual information woven into the story in such a way that really makes sense to the younger readers this story is geared towards.

Our main character, April, is small in stature but large in personality. I loved everything about her. She is strong, independent, and empathetic. I do think for a majority of this book the relationship between April and her father was extremely unhealthy, and I think that the book could have portrayed a healthy relationship without taking away from the story.

The Last Bear had beautiful illustrations throughout, and I really loved the art style. There was also a bit of Norwegian influence in the book as well. I really liked the use of the word "friluftsliv" which means "open-air life." This really tied into the story, and I appreciated that we saw this word pop up multiple times.

Overall this is a gorgeous story of finding friendship in unexpected places, and finding and using your own voice. I highly recommend this book to any animal lover or child interested in learning more about global warming.

With thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins Children's Books for an early copy in return for an honest review.

What a delightful MG read novel...4.5 stars! Every time I hear a teacher ask for a read aloud for the 3rd or 4th grade students, I will now put this on the list of suggestions!

April and her dad move to Bear Island for a 6-month stay while her dad works at the weather tracking station...and they will be the only two people on the island. And then April meets Bear. Bear is a wild polar bear who is trapped on Bear Island because of the melted ice caps. They forge a relationship and the story is a wonderful mix of friendship between human and animal, and a call to activism. If each person did one thing, the actions would add up to make a big difference.

The Last Bear, by Hannah Gold, is about a friendship for the ages. When April goes to Bear Island with her father, she is excited to spend time with him. But, as he always does, he hides himself away in his work and she is left to explore the island alone—until she meets Bear. It is here, with this enormous, wild polar bear that she finds friendship, love, and a fierce sense of purpose.

Hannah Gold knows human-animal relationships. The visceral quality of them and the magical quality too. The story is compact but full. It moves fast but it is emotional. Beautiful writing and a beautiful story.

This story is a wonderful mix of the wonder of the natural world and a call to activism. April Wood is an 11 year old girl that has a deep relationship with nature. She feels drawn to the heart of the Earth, and can sense the secret things of wildlife. She will be spending the summer on an arctic island while her father works measuring the changing temperatures and collecting data. The island they will be going to is called Bear Island, only due to the decreasing size of ice caps, polar bears no longer inhabit the area. Or do they?

This was a delight to read. I enjoyed the themes that didn’t really seem probable and partially magical, because they helped to show compassion and kindness throughout the story. In addition to the much needed light shed on environmentalism and conservation, they was a lot of attention to loss and coping. This was done in a way that I felt could be easily understood by children. I loved that there was a call to do your part, no matter how small you are, or how small your action, you can make a difference. Small action leads to results faster than no action at all. Such an inspiring message for children!

The chapters were a desirable length, and kept a good pace, which I believe will help readers to stay engaged.

I also appreciated the authors note at the end where she noted additional resources.

Trigger warnings: parental loss

I was given an eARC in exchange for an honest review from the publisher, HarperCollins Children’s Books.

Grades 3-5. “The Last Bear” immerses the reader head first into the cold, bare landscape of the Arctic melting under the effects of climate change. Young April and her scientist father travel to Bear Island for his research. Ironically, no bears are believed to be left. That is, until April catches a glimpse of a malnourished, struggling polar bear. They quickly form a friendship and April rehabilitates him back to health. She soon discovers that he has been stranded on the island for many years, and devises a plan to get him back home to Svalbard before her time in the North comes to an end. Hannah Gold’s debut middle grade novel is a bold, unapologetic look into the devastating effects of climate change and its impact on wildlife. She seamlessly integrates scientific facts and statistics strengthening the book’s urgent tone. While the themes are clear and compelling, certain plot points remain nebulous, such as how April is able to communicate so well with the bear (a gift briefly tied to her late mother), or how her father seems largely unconcerned with her wandering the island alone all day. These small details will likely not bother young readers, who will eagerly await the resolution of the story to find out if Bear makes his way home. Sections of the book are divided by gentle black and white illustrations of the polar bear and the island that help bring April and her adventures to life. The author includes a helpful and informative note at the end about the real Bear Island she used as inspiration. “The Last Bear” is a fast-paced novel that will awaken or strengthen readers’ concern for their environment, and has the potential to act as a powerful discussion tool in classrooms and book clubs.

Sweet but somehow haunting story about a young girl who struggles to connect with her single father, but who is able to form a close, near-magic friendship with a wild polar bear. There's an occasional dreamlike quality to the text that left me uncertain if the author intended for the reader to interpret the text literally or in the context of a fantasy. Strong Eco-awareness and anti-global warming messaging appears throughout and the end notes provide the hard data to support the narrative claims.

This book is simply fantastic! It is one of the most “fun” fiction books I have read that honestly addresses the climate crisis. It is about a middle school girl who goes with her dad to Bear Island ( this is real place) so that he can record the temps and do work at the weather station. Her mom died when she is younger so it is just her and her dad. She is told there are no more bears on the island because the ice caps have melted and they can no longer get there. She finds one polar bear who is alone, has plastic harming his food and is hungry. She makes friends with the bear and ultimately goes on an adventure to help him make it back to the island that still has polar bears. It is a beautiful story of family that interweaves the real consequences of climate change using a real island and giving scientific facts about the impact of the ice melting. I think it would really resonate with a lot of kids in terms of climate change, complex family dynamics and generally just being a fun book to read. My favorite quote is when the girl says, “ But imagine if every single person on the planet just did one thing.”

This was a really lovely novel. I really liked April, she was smart and independent and has such a big heart and love for animals.
I loved the descriptions of Bear Island and the illustrations throughout the book. I think they really helped draw out what I was picturing.

There is a good look at climate change within this book, something that everyone needs to be aware of.

I think a lot of middle graders who enjoy books involving animals will like this one!

Thanks NetGalley for this ARC!

I really enjoyed this book. I loved all of the imagery and the fierce love April had for Bear. And I loved that Bear didn't turn out to talk to only her, one of my least favorite tropes. This was a quick, fast paced read.

However, I found the beginning a bit slow and the transitions in the first 20% moved too quickly for my liking. I would've loved to see a slower pace to really grasp April and her dad's move to Norway and to see what April was like before the move (she mentions not getting along with other girls and missing her mom, who died years before, but I would've loved to see in this action so we the readers could really grasp her change and unfailing loyalty to Bear). The message in this debut was a good one (though a bit heavy handed), and one that everyone should heed.

This lyrical debut novel swept me off of my feet. It's the kind of book that you finish with a big sigh, your heart near to bursting from the sheer magnitude of it.

April Wood does not fit in. Her scientist father doesn't seem to notice her all that much, she doesn't have any friends aside from a wild fox in her back yard, and she has only fragments of memories of life before her mother died.

When April's father gets the opportunity to spend six months in the Arctic on Bear Island, April jumps at the chance to go with him. No school with mean taunts, a wide open space to explore, and the potential for time with her father all culminate in some very high hopes.

Yet despite their being the only two people on Bear Island, April's father still doesn't have time for her. She sets out to explore the island, named after the polar bears that used to migrate there. With the melting ice caps, she knows there aren't any bears. But how does that explain the large shape on the horizon? April sets out to discover if there is a polar bear on Bear Island, and how she can help him get home. Along the way, she just might find her own voice and passion.

This middle grade novel is beautifully written, full of magical realism in a wondrous world. The Arctic is breathtakingly described, but not obtrusively. The unique landscape of Bear Island is a character unto itself, with the terrain proving both useful and troublesome at times.

The characters are exceptionally well developed, without any of the negative stereotypes that can pop up in middle grade books. April is a relatable 11 year old, smart without being a precocious prodigy. She has a way with animals and finds a way to use her loneliness to help a creature. Bear, the wild polar bear, is in fact a polar bear, but is also his own character. Though he doesn't speak, he and April form a relationship. This friendship is full of lessons delivered in a soft and gentle manner to further the story without slowing it down. The plot is well paced and tugs on your heart in just the right way. It's the kind of story that fills you up and encourages you to make a difference in your part of the world.

There are many positive messages in this book that leave your heart full. From understanding the complexity of relationships and the power of communication, to learning to use your voice no matter your age or size, to doing the right thing even when the world tells you you're wrong, to standing up for the environment when you fear no one listens to you- this novel is full of wonderful messages without ever sounding preachy.

The cover art and sporadic artwork throughout is gorgeous. It captures the moment just like it appears in your mind, without interfering with your mental image. It's a beautiful addition to the lush writing.

This is a story about friendship, love, and finding your voice. I absolutely adored it, from start to finish. Though older readers will enjoy it on their own, I believe the content and writing is accessible enough for my five and seven year old, and I look forward to reading it to them. This is one of those novels our family will always treasure.

I'd like to think HarperCollins Children's Books and NetGalley for the advanced copy that allowed me to write this review.