Bear Daughter by Judith Berman

Based on Pacific Northwest Native Americans oral literature, Berman's touching fantasy chronicles the journey of Cloud, who at the novel's start awakens one morning as a 12-year-old human girl, when the night before she had been a bear cub. Taking human shape is a disturbing and difficult conversion for her, and the book's young adult audience will relate to her disorientation and awkwardness, an obvious metaphor for even your average adolescent struggle. Separated from her mother, and violently ostracized by her stepfather Rumble (the tribe's chief), Cloud strikes out on her own to seek her paternal heritage, gain self-understanding and come into her powers. Berman balances the story's mythology with convincing emotional subtext, including Cloud's desire to be accepted among her human family and the often ignoble attitudes of the human elders. With its sympathetic young heroine and density of action, this richly re-imagined folk tale may straddle young adult and adult audiences.

I enjoyed this novel for its interesting setting (a fantasy version of pre-Columbus Pacific Northwest), and a story that centers around the struggles a young girl goes through while on the hero's journey and how relationships to those around her help her on that journey, and change her.