The Girl Who Speaks Bear is Sophie Anderson’s second Middle Grade release from Usborne. Tori and my Mum both loved her first book, The House With Chicken Legs, but I haven’t picked that up yet – I was going to read that first but then one of the prompts for Smut Club this month was ‘a book with a moon on the cover’ so I read this one instead.

I loved the storytelling in this book, and how there were stories told within the story – like a cake made of fairytales. It made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Exploring themes of friendship, family, courage, love, and community, The Girl Who Speaks Bear was exciting and heart-warming in equal measure.

The cast of characters is varied – from the main character Yana, through everything from witches to wolves – they have to learn to work together and ignore their differences on their journey through the snowy forest.

I particularly loved Mousetrap the weasel who was sassy and had just the right level of snark. He sounded exactly how I’d imagine a weasel to sound if I understood them!

The book itself is beautiful, with gorgeous edging round the stories-in-the-story and lovely illustrations throughout.

Utterly gorgeous, this would be perfect for confident readers age 9+ to read alone and for sharing with slightly younger readers, too.

It’s also excellent for grown ups who like snowy forest adventures with a sprinkle of magic.

5/5*