The Arctic might be a bit too chilly for humans to live there, but it is the perfect home for polar bears. But the earth is getting warmer and the ice is melting. Where will the polar bears live? How can we help protect their home?
This is a Stage 2 Let's-Read-and-Find-Out, which means the book explores more challenging concepts for children in the primary grades. Let's-Read-And-Find-Out is the winner of the American Association for the Advancement of Science/Subaru Science Books & Films Prize for Outstanding Science Series.
Supports the Common Core Learning Standards and Next Generation Science Standards
Children's Literature - Debby Willett
Four months ago a polar cub was born in this Arctic den, and he depends only on his mother for his milk and heat. Finally, in the spring, they leave the den to play and explore. The Arctic is cold even with the sun. It could be fifty degrees below zero, but with their thick fur and layer of fat under their skin, being outside is an opportunity to soak up the sun. The mother wants to eat, so she hunts, looking for prey that will fill their stomachs. On the Arctic island where the mother and cub live, there is land, rocks, and tundra. She is not the only one looking for food. An Arctic fox competes for the meat she has caught. The cub will stay with his mother for two years before he strikes out on his own. When he is fully grown, he will become the biggest hunter on land, yet, polar bears will become extinct without ice to live on and prey to hunt. This book was very informative, although I am not sure the reading level is appropriate based on the information presented. However, children do need to be made aware of ecological changes. The illustrations are warm and colorful and add to the scientific information presented. Reviewer: Debby Willett
Children's Literature - Sharon Oliver
Part of the "Let's Read and Find Out Science" series, this volume on polar bears is an appealing and informative book for beginning readers. It opens with a mother bear's nose sticking out of her winter den, and she is soon followed out onto the snowy ground by her new cub, exploring his world for the first time. Brief information is given about the cub's growth and the hibernation cycle of the polar bear. The mother and cub then go hunting for seals, while the text explains the food chain of the Arctic Circle. A few pages are dedicated to the bears' shrinking habitat. The cub is then described as an adult of such size that "his head would brush the ceiling of your living room," and the author speculates as to whether he may be the last polar bear if the ice continues to shrink. At the end, readers are provided with a page encouraging them to find out more about global climate change and what they can do to make a difference. Short sentences with good context clues produce a highly readable text. Watercolor illustrations in frosty shades are an excellent accompaniment to the text. The wildly cute cub (who displays his antics on the end papers) and our "narrator," a white-coated bespectacled polar bear, are particularly appealing. This is an excellent addition for all children's libraries. Reviewer: Sharon Oliver
School Library Journal
Gr 1–4—This beginning science book opens with fascinating facts about baby polar bears that will capture readers' attention. Moving from discussion of the cubs to more challenging information about climate change and how it affects the animal's diet is a clever way to organize this fact-filled book. A page entitled "Why the World Is Getting Warmer" and another called "What Can You Do?" are appended. Charming illustrations done in frosty shades enhance the text. Most of the vocabulary is easy to interpret in context, and Thomson uses interesting comparisons, such as if a grown polar bear "stood on his hind legs, his head would brush the ceiling of your living room." Well-written text and appealing illustrations make this title a solid addition to natural-history collections.—Rachel Artley, Watertown Elementary School, TN
Kirkus Reviews
The latest in the Let's-Read-And-Find-Out Science series, this Stage 2 title follows a mother bear and her cub as they emerge from their winter den in the Arctic and set out for the ice where the mother can catch a seal meal. Along the way, children learn about Arctic temperatures and conditions and the adaptations that allow polar bears to survive there. After about the first 29 pages, however, the style of the text changes from informative to exhortative. A decrease in Arctic ice is a fact that affects polar bears. This series has already addressed global warming, and its heavy presence in this title seems shoehorned in solely to galvanize readers. Backmatter includes more on global warming and ways readers can lessen their impact on the earth. Chin's clean watercolor illustrations introduce the presumed narrator, a bespectacled, cartoon polar-bear scientist and realistically portray both the Arctic habitat and the polar bears. In some instances, though, the bears' facial expressions are anthropomorphized, especially the cub's and in the latter portions. All in all a rather disappointing effort from a solid series. (Informational picture book. 5-9)
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