Polar Bear
Review posted April 16, 2025.
Neal Porter Books (Holiday House), 2022. 40 pages.
Review written February 13, 2023, from a library book.
A 2022 Capitol Choices Selection
Starred Review
Candace Fleming and Eric Rohmann do amazing work together. As in the Sibert Medal-winning Honeybee, large and beautiful paintings accompany accessible text and help us understand better the lives of wild creatures.
Polar Bear follows a mother and two cubs in their day-to-day lives. (And oh, the cuteness of the cubs!) We understand better why melting sea ice is a problem when we read about a particular bear needing to fatten up enough to live on land, where she can't get seal blubber to eat. We learn about the challenges of caring for cubs and how she takes care of them while hunting enough food to survive.
By the start of June, the bear family has moved far out onto the ice.
The cubs are growing fast -- very fast.
And Mother has gorged herself. She has regained much of her weight. But it is not enough.
Soon, the bay's ice will melt into open water.
Mother must fatten up now if she and the cubs are to survive summer's lean months.
Learn about the everyday life of a polar bear family up close in a way you've never seen them before.