Atalanta and the Arcadian Beast — Jane Yolen; Robert J. Harris

Before Atalanta became a Greek legend, she encountered a beast....

Abandoned by her parents and raised by bears until the age of four, Atalanta has led a life of adventure. After her adoptive father is slain by a ferocious beast, the twelve-year-old Atalanta sets off on a journey of revenge, accompanied by the bear she treats as a brother. She discovers that a monster is terrorizing the land of Arcadia and that the king has assembled a party to track it down -- led by the legendary huntsman Orion. Atalanta wins a place at Orion's side, but the hunt for the beast is also a hunt to uncover the secret of her own past. And that may prove to be the greatest danger of all.