Reviewed by Alice DiNizo for Readers' Favorite

Eighth grader Charlie Hall's mother, Laura, has recently died of cancer and Charlie and his father are grieving, isolated from each other. Charlie goes through a life-saving swimming course under college age Kay's direction and fights off former friend Dan's bullying ways while his father joins with his neighbor Shelburton in raising buffalo.

Then Charlie comes upon, of all things, a grizzly bear who bonds with him and writes a cryptic message on Charlie's father's pole barn wall. Charlie feeds funeral casseroles to the bear who writes on the ground that his name is Emory. One by one, Charlie's father, their millionaire neighbor Jules McHenry, the Fish and Game Warden Hessler all come to believe in Emory, the tame grizzly who sleeps on the couch in the pole barn. Meanwhile Charlie finds his first love, Beth Shelburton, and Charlie's dad eventually remarries, but can Emory the bear, who claims to have fought as Emory Bain in the Civil War, be saved?

"Emory's Gift" is a brilliantly written animal story that is both unique and engrossing in its storyline of a grieving young boy's friendship with a bear who may or may not be real. All characters, major and minor, are well-created and believable, and the plot flows smoothly to the end with convincing moments where the reader will fear for Emory the bear's safety. The narrator, Charlie, looks back on this time in his life and reflects on Emory's written message on the pole barn wall: God loves all. Emory the bear came into Charlie and his father's lives when they grieved and needed love.

"Emory's Gift" is a special story that will appeal to many readers and leave them smiling, not crying, as the tale comes to a close.