Summer of the Dancing Bear

Eleven-year-old Samuel, youngest son of James and Sara McRiley, begins the account of his life-changing summer as the school year is winding down in the spring of 1916. While most adults in and around Short Ridge are anxiously following reports of war raging across Europe, Sammy is more concerned with the battles between himself and three schoolyard bullies led by Blain Carter, Jr. Then, shortly after the start of summer vacation, a trained bear escapes when circus wagons overturn in a nearby community. As tales of the bear’s ferocity swirl around the area, two rewards are offered one by the circus for the bear’s capture and return and a larger one by concerned citizens for the bear’s hide. Sammy’s attention becomes focused on collecting the reward to earn the respect of his older brother, as a way to prove to bullying classmates, Blain, Goose, and Little Hank, that he is not a boy to be “thumped on”, and as a means to earn money to boost the family’s meager income. Most of the men in the area, with the exception of James McRiley and Jefferson Parker, a black neighbor who is the only man in Short Ridge to have actually killed a bear, share Sammy’s dream of collecting the reward money. Before the bear is sighted by anyone, Ezra Holister, an obnoxious neighbor who devotes more time to bear hunting than to tending his farm, cuts a wild cherry tree and lets branches lie in the McRiley pasture where their cow eats the wilted leaves and is poisoned. James McRiley, backed by Jefferson Parker, his black neighbor, confronts Holister and demands that he either pay for the cow or replace it with one from his own small herd. Sammy and Jim witness the confrontation that leaves Holister and his crony, Blain Carter, Sr., humiliated and angry. To settle the score, these men burn Parker’s barn and would burn the McRiley barn if not surprised by Clancy Potter who is sleeping in the loft. Throughout the summer, Sammy continues his quest to first kill and later to capture the escaped bear. However, on his mission to learn all he can about hunting bears, he learns more about himself, his family, and people in general. He begins to see his mother in a new light when he learns that she harbors ambiguous feelings toward Tilly, Jefferson Parker’s wife. Tilly nursed Sammy the first few weeks of his life when Sara couldn’t. He watches his mother’s attitude toward Clancy Potter, “a drunken no-good,” change as she gets to know the man. He gains a glimpse inside the family of his nemesis, Blain Carter, Jr., to better understand why this boy is a bully and starts to understand the importance of family in the development of character. He begins to question racial prejudice that exists in his community. He begins to understand that men and women deal with problems differently and that the relationship between brothers can “stay the same on the inside and change on the outside” as they grow up. Sammy spends the early weeks of summer with thoughts and feelings “hoppin’ around inside like popcorn in a hot ban.” He has encounters with the bear and realizes that he cannot kill the animal, especially after Mr. B., as he calls him, helps frighten away Blain, Goose, and Little Hank. When the three boys chase Sammy into an abandoned smokehouse where the bear has taken refuge from the hot sun, Mr. B. is startled stands on his hind legs facing them. The bullies run away, believing that their intended victim has transformed himself into a ferocious bear just as an Indian boy in a story read by their teacher transformed himself into an eagle. As summer winds down, Sammy collects the reward money for Mr. B. just before the community has to come to grips with the questionable “accidental” shooting of Blain’s father. A trip to the circus provides Sammy another opportunity to dance with Mr. B., and Sara McRiley reestablishes friendships to unite her with Blain’s mother and two of their high school classmates. This rekindled friendship embolde