Touching Spirit Bear is a novel written by Ben Mikaelsen. The main character in this book is a young boy named Cole Matthews. Cole has a lot of anger issues, and he often uses violence to deal with conflicts. In one particular instance Cole beats up a boy named Peter Driscal. Cole smashes Peter's head against the sidewalk many times. As if this isn't brutal enough, Cole laughs and spits at Peter while he is on the pavement. Peter is hurt so badly that his parents want Cole to be sent to jail. Instead of being sent to jail, Cole is sent to an Alaskan island.

Cole Matthews is a complicated character. Readers learn that the root of his violence is his alcoholic, abusive parents. Cole forms his attitude and opinion about other people based on the cruelty he meets at home. He compulsively needs to show that he is not weak, and does this by resorting to violence and anger.

The main reason that Cole chooses to beat Peter up is because Cole broke into a hardware store and Peter told on him. A more in-depth reason that Cole beat Peter up could be because Cole sees him as a weak person. Cole believes that Peter deserves to be beat up because he is weak and needs to learn a lesson. It is likely that Cole is projecting his own feelings about being beat up by his own father onto Peter.

By the end of the novel, both boys are able to heal and move on in their lives.