Island of Shadows (book)

This is the page about Island of Shadows, the first book in the Return to the Wild arc. For the location named Island of Shadows, see Island of Shadows (location).

I'm just imagining things. This is the land we've hoped for, with prey and somewhere to shelter and the right kind of food for Lusa. And it must the way to the frozen sea.

— Kallik dismissing her doubts about the Island of Shadows in Island of Shadows, page 57

Island of Shadows (book)
Series:	Return to the Wild
Book Number:	1
Author:	Cherith Baldry
Date Released:	Hardcover - February 7th, 2012 Paperback - January 8th, 2013 eBook - February 7th, 2012
Additional Information:	Island of Shadows Cliffnotes Characters Chapters Cover Gallery Sample Seekers Map
Chronology
← Previous	Spirits in the Stars
Next →	The Melting Sea

Island of Shadows is the first book in the Return to the Wild arc. Nanulak is the bear on the portrait, and below are Lusa, Toklo, and Kallik exploring the Island of Shadows.

Bookjacket

Outside

The action-packed second Seekers arc takes off as the three bears begin the long journey home, now accompanied by Yakone, a polar bear they met on Star Island. Toklo is wary of Yakone and miserable without Ujurak, Lusa is struggling to survive on the meager food they're able to find, and Kallik is desperate to reconnect with her family.

Then the bears encounter Nanulak, a young half polar/half grizzly bear who seems to be on his own. Toklo is happy to have a bear who needs his protection once again. But Ujurak appears in the bears' dreams, hinting that one of their new companions is not what he seems...

Inside

Toklo, Kallik, and Lusa survived the perilous mission that brought them together, and now it's time for them to find their way home. Kallik and Lusa are ready to be among their own kinds again, but Toklo, devastated by the loss of their companion Ujurak, feels hopeless and afraid of what's to come.

 When the group reaches a shadowy island covered in mountains and ice, Kallik is sure they're almost back to the Frozen Sea. But a terrifying accident leads them into a maze of abandoned tunnels, unlike anything they've ever seen before- making them question their path once again.

The bears grow desperate for a sign to guide them, and when they meet a cub who has lost his whole family, Toklo believes the cub has been sent by Ujurak. But the others are unsure. Can they trust their new companion? Or could he be hiding something that will endanger them all?

Detailed Plot Summary

Kallik, Lusa, Toklo, and Yakone continue on their journey. However, the journey is harder due to the loss of Ujurak. Toklo is miserable and grief-stricken and seems to be very infuriated by Yakone as he wants to be the leader of the group, but Yakone knows the ice better.

After traveling through the ice for some time they reach an island, which Kallik thinks will lead to the Melting Sea, her birthplace. They all agree to go to the island. Meanwhile, Toklo's rivalry with Yakone expands. Kallik is visited in a dream by Ujurak, telling her to keep the group together. The bears continue through the island and Toklo falls into a tunnel of a sort. Kallik, Yakone, and Lusa try to find him and hunt through the snow to find a less deep opening. Lusa is the most concerned, but Yakone says that they should give up for the day and get some sleep. The next morning, under the tunnels, Toklo stumbles along and is almost buried alive by rubble, but the others finally find him, but he doesn't act the same.

Toklo seems to forget the point of the mission and is very miserable. After being advised in a dream by Ujurak, Lusa finds a plant that can cure Toklo of his pain but not sadness. The bears begin to hate the island as it only offers storms and a meager amount of prey. One day, they find a brown bear cub sitting in the snow. Kallik is confused by him; his pelt is brown, but his head and shoulders look odd. At first, he is terrified of them, trying to flee. After being reassured by Toklo that they won't hurt him, he tells them that his name is Nanulak and he was driven out by his brown bear mother and his half-siblings since they had no prey. He said that white bears attacked him later for no reason. The bears find that Nanulak is a half polar-grizzly bear mix (see grolar bear for more information) and that Nanulak hates white bears and wants to be only a brown bear. He is quite afraid of Kallik and Yakone and puzzled by the sight of Lusa, as he has never seen any black bears. However, he likes Toklo very much and takes Toklo in as a role model and a hero.

Toklo loses his sadness when taking care of Nanulak and the Grolar Bear becomes an Ujurak in Toklo's heart. Later, they are trying to get back to the Melting Sea, when Ujurak tells Toklo that Nanulak is not part of their journey and that they will never make it to the Melting Sea unless they take him back, Toklo furiously denies that he is not part of the journey, and says that Ujurak is jealous because he thinks Toklo has replaced him. Finally, Toklo reluctantly takes Nanulak back to where they found him. Nanulak is angry and has been saying that he is a brown bear at heart. As it turns out his father is a white bear, and his mother is a brown bear, but Nanulak hates white bears.

Nanulak makes Toklo think that a white bear attacked him, so Toklo attacks the white bear. Just as Nanulak shouts at Toklo to kill the white bear, and not let him live, the white bear sees Nanulak and it is discovered that the white bear is Nanulak's father. Toklo becomes angry at Nanulak, and Lusa, Kallik, and Yakone want him gone. But Toklo forgives Nanulak and offers him a place with them. Nanulak refuses, saying Toklo is a traitor for not killing his father and for not joining him. Nanulak runs off into the mountains, refusing help from his mother, father, and Toklo. Toklo realizes that Nanulak would never have fitted in with their group; they were a family, but Nanulak would never understand what it meant to be part of it.

Characters

Polar Bears

• Kallik
• Yakone
• Tikaani
• Nanulak's Father
• 3 unnamed polar bears with Tikaani
• 3 unnamed polar bears with Nanulak's Father

Black Bears

• Lusa

Grizzly Bears

• Toklo
• Ujurak (Shapeshifter)
• Nanulak's Mother
• Nanulak's half-brother
• Nanulak's half-sister

Grolar Bears

• Nanulak
• Unnamed Grolar bear mother
• Unnamed Grolar bear male cub
• Unnamed Grolar bear she-cub

Trivia

• On the back, it says  "...Kallik is sure they're almost back to the Frozen Sea."  This is a typo; Kallik's home is the Melting Sea, not the Frozen Sea.
• There are many occasions where the bears say they are traveling to the Frozen Sea when they are actually going to the Melting Sea.
• Kallik says she 'watched the two brown bears', referring to Toklo and Nanulak when Nanulak is not a brown bear. However, she may have been describing his pelt color, not his species.