If your kid loved Pax or A Wolf Called Wander, The Last Bear hits that exact sweet spot of wild survival and big emotional heart. Hannah Gold tells the story of 11-year-old April, marooned on a desolate Arctic weather station with a father who has retreated into his own grief after her mother's death. When April spots a solitary, starving polar bear stranded on the island, her mission to save him becomes the anchor she needs to pull her father back into the world.

It handles big topics—ecological impact, loneliness, bereavement—without sliding into an exhausting lecture. The Arctic backdrop feels vast and dangerous, and Levi Pinfold's pencil illustrations add a cinematic, atmospheric weight that hooks even mid-tier readers.

Expect some genuine tension around animal suffering and a couple of high-stakes choices where April puts herself in serious freezing-cold danger. But the core story is about connection and fierce agency, making it one of the strongest middle-grade environmental novels in recent years.