Björnstad

Beartown (original title in Swedish: Björnstad) is a novel by Swedish writer Fredrik Backman. The novel, noted as "hockey literature", centers on a declining youth hockey team in a small town. The story follows the events leading up to the rape of 15-year-old girl Maya Andersson by the star junior hockey player Kevin Erdahl, and the consequences for Maya and Kevin, the players, their families, friends, and the community which has a long-standing reputation as a hockey town. It is the first book in the Beartown series, followed by Us Against You and The Winners. In 2018, the Rockingham County School Board removed the book from the reading list of McMichael High, a high school in North Carolina, when parents described it as "vulgar" and "graphic".