The Great Bear Breakouy leans towards the greyer tones of the world. It heavily follows themes of corruption and deception, and more mildly covers areas of loss, governing systems, animal abuse and moral judgement.

With a target market around the middle grade realm this offers an interesting wedge into the realities of the world, with the lens directive of a child.

The main protagonist is passionate about art and the care of animals, and that passion propels her movement through the novel in way that lead her to confront systematic greed, and engage in the sometimes required lying/blanketing of the truth, both of which require bravery and vindication.

Overall a wonderful read that has a lot of lessons/critical analysis that gives readers foundational knowledge of the complexities of the world, and the grey areas that are sometimes required to protect the things they care about.

If you like historical fiction or animals you need to read The Great Bear Breakout! It’s about a 13 year old girl named Rosa living in London in the 1850's. Her mom is dead and her dad thinks she needs a woman role model in her life, so he sends her to live with her aunt and uncle. They live across the street from the Surrey Zoological Gardens, and quickly falls in love with the bears at the zoo. So when Rosa hears the zoo is closing and the bears killed she is horrified and does everything she can to save them. I loved this book so much, it’s such a heartfelt read, and I recommend it to everyone!

I cannot begin to explain how much I loved this book.

Personally I have an attachment to bears that is stronger than most, and I love historical fiction so this was a great read for me.

It is a charming story of a young girl living with her Aunt and Uncle after the death of her mother. She loves to draw and paint, especially at the local gardens which have a sort of mystery about them as everyone suggests for her to paint flowers there, but her uncle also forbids her from going there regularly. As the story progresses, we slowly learn more about her parents, the bears, the gardens, and her uncle's connections. When the bears are going to be sold to an illegal bear baiting ring the girl knows she has to save them and fulfill the title by breaking the bears out of the gardens until it is safe for them to return. It is a wonderful, unexpected adventure with plenty of twists and turns that readers of all ages will enjoy.

I recommend for middle grade readers, especially bear lovers!

It is a nicely written book with a lot of themes. As an animal lover, I struggled a bit to read the part about the menagerie.

After her mother's sudden death, 12 year old Rosa is sent by her cheesemonger father to live with her wealthy relatives in the hope that this will give her a better life. But Rosa finds life with her strict uncle difficult, and her aunt - despite being her late mother's sister - seems reluctant to talk about her.

A talented artist, like her mother, Rosa finds secret solace in visiting the bears in the nearby animal park, where she has fond memories of accompanying her mother. Until she finds out that the bears are in terrible danger from unscrupulous men who plan to take advantage of the closing down of the animal park.

Its 1855, and Rosa is a girl of only 12. So what can she possibly do to prevent a tragedy? As it turns out, she is far more resourceful than she knows.

This is a beautiful story, well told and illustrated, and with multiple core themes - including unexpected friendships, grief over parental loss, and the bonds between humans and other species - it will be enjoyed by readers of all ages particularly those in the target group. It gets 4.5 stars.