Bearstone (Avon Camelot Books)

Fourteen-year-old Cloyd was trouble. Trouble to himself and everyone else. He'd grown up without his parents, without schooling, half-wild and alone in remote Utah canyons. Sent by his tribe to a group home for Indian boys, his feeling of isolation turns to desperation - and even more trouble.

But high in the majestic mountains of Colorado where Cloyd is taken to live with an old rancher, he finds a small carved turquoise bear in an Indian burial cave. Secretly renaming himself Lone Bear, Cloyd calls upon the strength of his ancient ancestors - first to do battle with his own hostilities, but finally to discover the magic power of an old man's love, and the secrets of living in a world he has just begun to understand.

An IRA/CBC Teachers Choices book
Notable Children's Trade Book in the field of Social Studies
Mountain & Plains Bookseller Association Children's Book Award