Search - Snow Bear

From School Library Journal
Kindergarten-Grade 2 A ship-shaped upthrust of ice entices Bessie to pull on her parka and set off for imaginary voyages. She encounters Snow Bear, a polar bear cub, and they become instant companions, frolicking happily in the Arctic snow. Watched over separately by the cautious mother bear, Nanuq, and Bessie's wary older brother Vincent, the little ones enjoy one another's company until a large male bear appears. His predatory intrusion sends Bessie and Vincent off toward home, and Nanuq and Snow Bear to safety in another direction, while the great ice "ship" slips into the sea. The simple, pleasing text is accompanied by luminous watercolors that faithfully record this charming (if improbable) chance meeting. The pictures are brilliantly colored, detailed even to depicting frosty breaths among the icy blues, frigid greens, and snowy whites, with the two Inuits as rich dark spots in the landscape, in their beautifully decorated fur parkas. While the story calls to mind Robert McCloskey's Blueberries for Sal (Viking, 1948), Bessie and Snow Bear's delightful meeting stands foursquare on its own booted feet (or furry paws). Patricia Manning, formerly at Eastchester Public Library, NY