Ice Bears - Hardcover

Brenda Z. Guiberson has written many books for children, including Cactus Hotel, Spoonbill Swamp, Moon Bear and Disasters. As a child, Brenda never thought she wanted to be a writer—her dreams tended more toward jungle explorer. She graduated from the University of Washington with degrees in English and Fine Art. She started thinking about writing for children when her son went to elementary school, and she volunteered in his class and in the school library. After taking exciting trips that involved a fifty-foot cactus, hungry alligators and sunset-colored spoonbills, she wanted to create books for children that would be like a field trip. Her books are full of well-researched detail, and Brenda sees this research as an adventure—one that allows her to be a jungle explorer at last. She lives in Seattle, Washington. Ilya Spirin is the son of award-winning illustrator Gennady Spirin. Ice Bears was his first book. He lives in New Jersey.

Lush, realistic watercolor illustrations, filling each double-page spread, accompany a brief text depicting a year in the life of a female polar bear and her two cubs in the Arctic. As winter approaches, the polar bear digs a nesting den where she will give birth to her cubs, which “are born deaf, blind and almost hairless. Each weighs barely a pound.” In March the family leaves the den and the cubs learn survival skills before traveling to the ocean in pursuit of their main food source, ringed seals. They encounter many other creatures along the way, but the polar bears are always the dominant feature in each dynamic spread. The final two pages feature alerts about the effect of global warming on polar bears and a list of Web sites of environmental organizations. The illustrations are lovely, including underwater scenes that are especially well rendered. The short text features enough variety and drama to keep readers engaged. This is a worthy introduction to a topic with perennial interest, especially since the species has become vulnerable. Grades K-3. --Randall Enos