Exit, Pursued by a Bear

By: E.K. Johnston

Narrated by: Jorjeana Marie

From #1 New York Times bestselling author E.K. Johnston comes a brave and unforgettable story that will inspire readers to rethink how we treat survivors.

Hermione Winters is captain of her cheerleading team, and in tiny Palermo Heights, this doesn’t mean what you think it means. At PHHS, the cheerleaders don't cheer for the sports teams; they are the sports team—the pride and joy of a small town. The team's summer training camp is Hermione's last and marks the beginning of the end of…she’s not sure what. She does know this season could make her a legend. But during a camp party, someone slips something in her drink. And it all goes black.

In every class, there's a star cheerleader and a pariah pregnant girl. They're never supposed to be the same person. Hermione struggles to regain the control she's always had and faces a wrenching decision about how to move on. The rape wasn't the beginning of Hermione Winter's story and she's not going to let it be the end. She won’t be anyone’s cautionary tale.

"E.K. Johnston has a seemingly limitless range.... This is realistic fiction at it's best."—The Globe & Mail

★ "Johnston’s clever—but never precious—update of Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale is unflinching but not at all graphic in its treatment of sexual violence.... Middle and high school readers will pass this powerful, engaging story around and around."—Kirkus Reviews, starred review

★ "Fierce and gorgeously drawn, this is a rape story that doesn’t focus on victimhood."—Booklist, starred review

★ “A beautifully written portrait of a young woman facing the unthinkable, this is a must-buy for high school collections.”—SLJ, starred review

"Exit, Pursued by a Bear is an important new novel comparable with Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson.”—VOYA.

"This story of a cheerleader rising up after a traumatic event will give you Veronica Mars-level feels that will stay with you long after you finish."—Seventeen Magazine

A NPR Best Book of 2016
A Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2016
A Booklist Best Book of 2016
A New York Public Library 2016 Top Ten Book for Teens
A Chicago Public Library Best Teen Fiction of 2016
A Globe & Mail Best Book of 2016
A CBC Best Book of 2016
A Quill & Quire Best Book of 2016
A Bustle Top 30 YA Book of 2016
A Bookish Best Book of 2016
A Bank Street College Best Children's Book of the Year
A finalist for Audible’s Best Young Adult Audiobook of 2016
A 2017 Ontario Library Association White Pine Honor Book

Captivating and Carefully Real

This story captivates E. K. Johnston's style and talent as a writer of realistic and honest stories. Johnston demonstrates, through her incredible cast of characters, various reactions to difficult, scary, and hard situations without ever making any situation larger than real life. Because every hardship is realistic, even sad scary moments never leave the reader in a state of panic. The situations are always able to be faced as a reader, even the situations no one would ever choose. This story has many good, happy, and funny moments too. In keeping with her realistic writing style, some of the best moments are simple victories. When Polly rolls onto a bag of chips making a royal mess of Hermione's bed. Or the moment Mallory takes one for the team by dancing with Leo. The afternoon the senior girls get together to fill out each others resident applications for university. These simply real wonderful memories perfectly balance this story. Congratulations to E. K. Johnston, for another story worth savoring!

Jorjeana Marie's narration of "Exit, Pursed by a Bear" is elegantly emotional and equally controlled. Her voice for Hermione fluctuations gracefully between emotional moments and moments of pure golden bear strength. Marie flawlessly convinces her audience that they are listening in on the real life of Hermione Winters. Excellent work, Jorjeana Marie!



Hermione Winters: high school senior, cheer team captain, the girl who can fly, friend to many, and family to more.

or

Hermione Winters: victim of rape, the broken girl, the girl that got grabbed, the one with a personal therapist, and the class check mark.

Which labels become Hermione Winters? She decides in her story: "Exit, Pursued by a Bear".

Difficult topic excellently done

This book was recommended to me and I'm glad I read it, but it was difficult to start. I knew the main character was going to get hurt and I didn't want it to happen. I am impressed how the author handled the topic and how well thought out the characters are. I haven't been through something as terrible as what happened, but in trying to work toward a big goal of mine, I was defrauded out of a large portion of my savings. I could relate to the loss of trust and the pain of reliving the crime to help with the investigation. Hermione's strength and the good people around her helped me realise how someone could recover from something so terrible as what happened to her.

YA reality at its best

I loved this book. It overturns multiple YA stereotypes and features a believable heroine who refuses to be portrayed as a victim. I kept dreading that the author was going to turn moralistic or sentimental in dealing with this challenging subject, but she (I assume it's a "she") didn't let me down, and I was cheering all the way to the end for Hermione and her wonderful friends. This is the kind of fiction I want my daughter to read. The narration is perfect and allowed me to seamlessly appreciate the emotional content of the story.

Good book

It was a quick story which I liked and I also liked the ending a lot.

Let me just say this is my first review

Even if you care nothing about cheering you will still enjoy this book. Very moving.