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Touching Spirit Bear Study Guide
Chapters 1 – 2 p. 3 – 25
1. How long will Cole be in Southeast Alaska?
2. What kind of Native American is Garvey?
3. How old is Cole?
4. Why is Cole in trouble this time?
5. In the past, how did Cole act when he got into trouble?
6. What is Coles plan to avoid Jail?
7. Does Cole deserve to go to a remote Alaskan island instead of Jail? Why /
Why not?
8. Why does Cold blame his parents for the trouble he is in? (page 9)
9. What does it tell us about Coles character when he “acts” remorseful by
“using the innocent childish voice that has served him countless times
before” (p. 12)?
10. What plant does Edwin say will cause infected hands?
11. Why isn’t Cole’s shelter closer to the stream?
12. What does the Spirit Bear possess?
13. What is an at.oow?
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14. How long is Cole held in detention?
15. Who trashes Cole’s room and the detention center?
16. What does Cole do as soon as the skiff is out of sight?
Chapter 3 – 4 p. 26 – 40
1. What does Garvey bring to Cole’s cell?
2. What does Cole do with the ingredients?
3. What was Gavey trying to make Cole understand when he gave him the cake
ingredients?
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4. How does Cole plan to escape from the island?
5. What does Garvey call Cole instead of “Champ”? Why?
6. Why does First Nations philosophy and approach involve circles?
7. Where do Cole’s parents sit at Circle Justice? How does Cole feel about this?
8. How many of Cole’s classmates show up for Circle Justice?
9. According to Circle Justice, what does jail do to people? Do you agree or
disagree? Explain your answer.
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10. What does the feather symbolize in the circle?
11. What two obligations must speakers fulfill at the circle?
12. What does the Circle want to believe about Cole?
13. What reasons do Cole’s parents five for being present at the Circle? What
does each of them want to get out of the meetings. Re-read their words on
pages 39 and 40. What message is Cole getting from his parents?
14. What doe you think Cole is beginning to realize when you read the last two
paragraphs of Chapter 4?
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Chapter 5 – 6 p. 41 – 58
1. Why can’t Cole swim away from the island?
2. What scares Cole after he makes it back to shore?
3. What presence does Cole see?
4. How does Cole react to this presence? Why?
5. What does Cole find near the ashes of the shelter?
6. Why doesn’t Cole feel regret for burning down the shelter or for hurting
Peter?
7. Why does Cole confront his parents during the Circle?
8. What character traits does Garvey identify that Cole has? (p. 49)
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9. Garvey explains the idea behind Coles banishment. According to Garvey, why
does banishment work?
10. Explain why banishment is not a “sentence” p. 56.
11. At the end of one year’s banishment, who will decide what happens to Cole?
Chapter 7 – 8 p. 58 -73
1. What do you think of Cole’s reaction to the Spirit Bear?
2. What does Cole make to fight the Bear?
3. What does Cole find to eat?
4. What is the significance of the quote when Cole meets the Spirit Bear in the
rain? “No one was watching. He could easily back away from this bear
and not a single being on the planet would ever know.” (p. 64)
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5. Why do you think Cole believes the bear should run away from him?
6. Cole attacks the Spirit Bear anyways. What does this tell you about what Cole
believes?
7. What does Cole grab to pull away from the bear?
8. During the attack, Cole cries out “No! No more!” (p. 66) How is Cole crying
out to the Spirit Bear different from Peter crying out to Cole?
9. How does the author describe the bear’s emotional state during the attack?
10. What feeling does Cole get when he sees the clump of white hair.
11. What are some of Cole’s injuries?
12. Cole is living out his worst nightmare of being helpless. What does Cole kill
while he’s lying hurt, barely breathing? Why?
13. Where does Cole wish he was? Why?
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Chapter 9 – 12 p. 74 – 102
1. What does Cole watch in the spruce tree? How does he feel about them at
first? Why? (p.75)
2. “Please, no more! No more! No more!” (p. 78) Cole begs to the night, the bear
and the storm. Do you feel sorry for him? Why / Why not?
3. What is envy? Why does Cole envy the dead baby birds?
4. What is empathy?
5. Which questions does Cole wonder about with regards to the baby birds‘
death that proves he feels empathy?
6. After the storm passes, what reminds Cole of the circle Garvey spoke of?
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7. What does Cole understand is the circle of life and death?
8. What does Cole decide is the real power?
9. What is the “fake power” he had used many times?
10. What are Cole’s reasons for choosing to live?
11. How does the Spirit Bear react to Coles act of defiance – spitting at it?
12. What does Cole see in the Spirit Bears eyes? What do you think Cole was
expecting to see?
13. How does Cole see the world after the Spirit Bear disappears?
14. What might Cole mean when he tells Garvey “I am okay” at the end of
Chapter 12?
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Chapter 13 – 15 p. 103 – 133
1. Who is Rosey?
2. What do the people in Cole’s nightmare call him?
3. What does Edwin mean when he tells Cole “Anger is a memory never
forgotten. You only tame it.” (p.110)
4. Why is it important that Cole tosses the Bear’s hair into the ocean?
5. The bear attack on Cole has left him permanently scared and disabled. Who
else has been attacked and disabled in the novel?
6. Why does Cole think the bear attacked him?
7. In what ways has Cole’s mother changed?
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8. What happened to Cole’s dad when he was a child?
9. Who is the surprise visitor to the Circle?
10. What is revealed to the Circle about Peter?
11. What argument does Edwin use to convince the circle Cole has changed?
(p.128)
12. Who will finance Cole’s banishment this time? How?
13. What epiphany does Cole reveal that he had on the island?
14. What is the new sentenced imposed on Cole?
Chapter 16 – 18 (p.137 – 157)
1. How does Edwin disable the skiff engine? Why does he do it?
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2. Garvey uses the metaphor “All of life is a hotdog.” (p. 139) Explain what he
means by this.
3. The following is an example of what literary device? “My mind get’s to
thinking and won’t quit. Like it’s chewing on tough meat.” (p. 142)
4. What point is Edwin trying to make Cole understand when he gets him to
break the end of the stick and look at the sky?
5. What does Cole see for the first time in the bay?
6. What type of dance does Cole perform? What is learned by doing this dance?
7. Explain the purpose of and idea behind the ancestor rock.
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Chapter 19 – 21 (p. 158 – 184)
1. Why does Garvey tell Cole he’s taking him back to Minneapolis?
2. What does Cole learn from the wolf dance?
3. What does Cole think about when he stumbles carrying his ancestor rock?
4. What does Cole tell Edwin and Garvey about his anger ?
5. Cole is not afraid of the Spirit Bear, but what is he afraid of on the island?
6. When all three go to the pool, who leads the way? Why?
7. What does Garvey give Cole before he leaves the island?
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8. What does Cole first decide to make out of the huge log? Why?
9. Who does Cole wish he could help?
Chapter 22 – 25 (p. 185 – 214)
1. Why does Cole want to make himself invisible?
2. How does Cole betray the beaver’s trust?
3. What does Cole discover he has to do to make himself invisible?
4. During his dance of anger, Cole acknowledges why he attacked the Spirit
Bear. Explain why he did.
5. Who does Cole forgive by the end of his dance of anger?
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6. What does Cole tell Edwin he has learned from the dance of anger?
7. Why hasn’t Cole been able to carve anything in the empty space of totem to
show forgiveness?
8. How does Cole celebrate Christmas?
9. What does Cole find out about Peter?
10. What is Cole’s plan to help Peter?
Chapter 26 – 28 (p. 215 – 240)
1. Why won’t Peter eat the special meal Cole prepared?
2. What does Mr. Driscal tell Cole?
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3. In one of his first overtures to Peter, what does Cole give him?
4. Who has filed for custody of Cole? How does this make him feel?
5. What is Peter’s first aggressive act towards Cole?
6. Who tells Cole he can come inside the cabin? What might this mean?
7. Who destroys Cole’s totem pole carving of the bear?
8. What is Peter’s first dance? Why does he react angrily at the end of it?
9. In the past, why did Cole have to prove things?
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10. After Cole hugs Peter, what do the boys see?
11. Cole’s attack leaves Peter with permanent physical damage and deep
psychological damage. How does forgiving Cole help Peter heal?
12. What do the boys carve in the empty space on Cole’s totem pole?
13. The Circle Justice system works for Cole and allows him to reach a place of
healing, eventually giving him the ability to help Peter as well. How might
the outcome of Cole’s story have been different if he’d gone to prison?
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