PIHOQAHIAK

In this novel, a large, juvenile polar bear forages for food in the Canadian town of Churchill, an experience that ends his life in the wild.

In Inuit poetry, the polar bear is called Pihoqahiak, “the ever-wandering one.” But in Ryan’s poignant tale about the plight of wild animals whose territory begins to intersect with human civilization, the free-roaming days of a polar bear who becomes known as Patch are over as quickly as they began. It is Halloween eve in 1986, and the 2-year-old bear has discovered there is tasty garbage to be consumed in Churchill, on the southwestern shore of Hudson Bay. He enters a house, causes a commotion, and rushes out the front door, spotting 11-year-old Jordan Johnson on the street. He charges after the frightened boy and is quickly shot with a tranquilizer dart by a bear-patrol officer. The animal is then taken to a holding cell in an airport hangar. The next day, Jordan and his 14-year-old sister, Raven, visit the caged bear. The magnificent youngster is huge, weighing close to 400 pounds “and standing…over seven feet tall. His fur was dense, his paws huge and the muscles on his hindquarters bulged and strained as the bear stood upright.” Looking directly at Jordan, he lets out a massive growl, opening his mouth wide and revealing a gray patch on his tongue. The mark will earn him his name and enable Jordan and Raven to follow his journeys, first to a German zoo, then to a traveling circus. Ryan’s novel, aimed at middle-grade and YA readers, is both engaging and informative. The author includes tidbits about polar bear life in the wild, such as how the animals fish and spread their paws out wide to minimize the risk of falling through thin ice. And she vividly portrays the variety of Patch’s experiences in captivity—some of them gentle, others terribly cruel. Heart-tugging scenes capture the bear pacing in boredom or feeling listless, with a damaged coat from malnutrition and the heat. Jordan and Raven are pleasant human protagonists, determined to free the bear, but it is the majestic Patch who will linger in readers’ minds long after the final page.

A tender and timely tale; likely to inspire future animal rights activists.