FINISHED:

Hunter, Erin. (2009). Seekers: Great Bear Lake. New York: HarperCollins.

[The three bears from the first book are back, with the addition of a new one: Ujurak, the shape shifter introduced at the end of book one - who, I mentioned in my review of that title, kind of took me out of the story. It's one thing to have bears that can talk to each other, but it's another thing entirely to have an animal that can morph into any animal it chooses. At any rate, this installment felt a bit forced to me - it's as if Hunter is stalling and dragging things out just to have material for more books. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed this one, just not as much as the first. In the end, thankfully, all three bears - Toklo the brown bear, Kallik the polar bear, and Lusa the black bear - meet each other and subsequent installments, I suppose, will have them traveling together in search of a place up north in which bears can live where there is still ice, food to eat, and that is far away from "flat-faces." A number of the events in the story seem like they will lead to something bigger that will have lasting impact on the characters, but which actually get wrapped up within a few paragraphs and then are forgotten. In one well-fleshed out storyline, Kallik finds her brother Taqqiq at a mass gathering of bears, but her brother has turned into a selfish creep that steals food from other bears and helps to kidnap a cub in an effort to infiltrate a bear colony and steal their food. For awhile it seems like he's going to remain a jerk, but then comes to trust family over friends. There is plenty to respect here: clearly, Hunter is a spiritual woman - the names of the characters seem to be Inuit and/or Native American influenced, and there is much talk among the bears of "guiding" spirits and the spirits of fallen bears becoming part of the trees or the water - and also much focus on the environment - with discussions of "firebeasts" belching smoke, "flat-face" constructions that are becoming an imposition on bear territory, and a great deal of worry over the disappearing ice and food supply. Though feeling somewhat like a filler installment, she's still got me hooked and I'll be looking forward to Book Three.]

STARTED:
Arnosky, Jim. (2009). The pirates of Crocodile Swamp. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons/Penguin.

[Reading to review for ACL.]

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