My Little Polar Bear - Hardcover

Claudia Rueda grew up in Colombia, where she attended law and art school, worked as a political cartoonist, and published educational books for UNICEF. She is the author-illustrator of LET’S PLAY IN THE FOREST, a National Parenting Publications Gold Award winner and a 2008 Colombian IBBY Honor Book, as well as the illustrator of Pam Muñoz Ryan’s NACHO AND LOLITA. She lives in Bogotá, Colombia. You can visit her at www.claudiarueda.com.

PreSchool-Grade 1—Rueda perfectly blends the story of a polar bear's love for her cub with primary facts about these animals. Implicitly environmental in the belief that people will protect what they understand, the story is sensitively told in dialogue format, with a strong undergirding of fact and observation. The cub wants to know for sure that it is a polar bear. Mother reassures her baby, and supports her claim by noting specific attributes on subsequent spreads: "Your feet are large and padded. You can walk on snow and melting ice, just like a polar bear. You smell seals from far away." Like the oversize text, the computer-enhanced illustrations in blues, whites, and grays are expansive and spare, giving children the space to feel the doubts and discoveries of the young animal. The cub's musings culminate in a silent, scary challenge to bound up a glacier during a snowstorm, illustrated without words, but clear in danger. Ultimately, the mother comforts the cub, telling it she will teach it everything polar bears need to know. Then the youngster realizes one thing: it is loved. Clothed in a quiet, thoughtful tone, an ode to a questioning disposition and scientific observation, this is a lovely introduction to the largest carnivore on land. Pair it with Lauren Thompson's outstanding Polar Bear Night (Scholastic, 2004).—Sara Paulson-Yarovoy, American Sign Language and English Lower School PS 347, New York City
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