posted on 24 Apr 2025

Puloma and the Bear by Jasbinder Bilan, illustrated by Skylar White

It’s always great to have a new novel from the award-winning author, Jasbinder Bilan, whose book Anya’s Quest from 2024 is reviewed here on this site. That book confronted the problems of environmental crisis and showed that determined young people can bring about transformation through even small and incremental changes in the way they treat the world.

In many ways, that theme continues in Puloma and the Bear where a determined young female character stands up for nature – this time in the shape of an abused sloth bear – and refuses to back down in the face of intimidation from adults.

Puloma is orphaned and living with her Auntie Rita, who makes it pretty clear that she’s not really welcome. In fact, she’s having such a miserable time that she decides she has nothing to lose by running away and seeking an independent life in the nearest town. But things don’t really work out for her because finding a job proves to be virtually impossible – until an accidental meeting with a young boy results in her joining a travelling circus.

She’s puzzled by why the circus appears to be constantly on the run from the police until she discovers that the star turn at the circus is a big sloth bear that has been trained to do tricks and keeping animals for performance is illegal. Puloma and the bear, named Nyla, seem to form an immediate bond but Puloma is concerned to find that the bear’s teeth and claws have been removed and the animal is in distress.

Although the circus people have been good to her, Puloma decides she has to do something to stop this exploitation and decides the best bet might be to get the bear to an animal sanctuary where it can be properly looked after. But Nyla is the key to the circus’s survival and the owners are not open to Puloma’s pleas on behalf of the bear. So, just as she’d run away before, she does it again – this time with Nyla and heading for sanctuary. But getting away from the angry circus owner isn’t an easy task…

You can discover for yourself how the story turns out and I can promise you a breathless pursuit!

There are excellent full and part-page illustrations from Skylar White that add a extra dimension to the reading experience. The book from Barrington Stoke, who specialise in publishing for reluctant readers of all kinds, is aimed at an audience of around 9 and above and is graded as having a reading age of 8+.

The book can be obtained from your local independent bookshop, who will be happy to order you a copy if they don’t have it on their shelves.

 

Terry Potter

April 2025