The Shadow of the Bear, by Regina Doman

The Shadow of the Bear, by Regina Doman
Young Adult, 2002

In this modern day retelling of Snow White and Rose Red, Blanche and her sister Rose befriend a scruffy looking boy named 'Bear'. But Bear has a secret that he's hiding as he slinks between dark alleys at night and everyone seems to want to know where he lives...and does it have anything to do with the murder everyone's talking about?

I'm a big fan of fractured fairy-tales, so I was delighted to find yet another author to oblige. I realized just be looking at the cover (which isn't bad...not great, but not bad...) that it was published by a Christian publishing company. This can be a good and a bad thing - you get squeaky clean literature, but sometimes get distracted from the plot by sermons. This time around it was just clean - SO clean, in fact, that some teens might say it was unrealistic. I hope very much there are still teenagers like the ones portrayed in this book out there, that it isn't unrealistic - Christian or no.

Sorry for the brief soap-box. At any rate, it was a cute story with a twist of a mystery attached. It ended a bit too perfect like many fairy tales are apt to do, but it was an enjoyable read, and I hope to try her others at some future date.

Graded a B-.