The Ice Bear

by Jackie Morris

Overview

In distant northern lands, the ice bear has given birth to two tiny cubs. As she sleeps, Raven the trickster steals one cub away, dropping him as a human child in the path of a hunter and his wife. The childless hunter and his wife rejoice at this wonderful gift and hold their newfound child close. As the years pass, the ice bear never forgets her second cub and pines for what she has lost. This magical tale set in Jackie Morris’s stunning icy landscapes tells a tale of tolerance and understanding, and reminds us of our duty to take care of this world’s wild creatures. Jackie’s glorious illustrations and lyrical text are now matched by the lavish production values of this book.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781912050468
Publisher:	Graffeg
Publication date:	08/01/2018
Pages:	48
Sales rank:	1,137,295
Product dimensions:	10.50(w) x 14.25(h) x 0.40(d)
Lexile:	AD640L (what's this?)
Age Range:	5 - 7 Years

About the Author

Jackie Morris is an award-winning and internationally acclaimed writer, artist and illustrator, and a previous nomineee for the CILP Carnegie Medal and the Kate Greenaway Award.

Editorial Reviews

"Visually stunning, the tale succeeds best as a fanciful, wistful cuddle-up bedtime story." —Kirkus Reviews


"Reminds us of the way in which people and animals can live in harmony. Gorgeous artwork." —BBC Wildlife

From the Publisher

Gr 1–4—The stunning, large-scale polar bear's face on the cover beckons readers to pick up this book. Unfolding in lyrical language, the magical tale is set at the beginning of time "when people and animals lived together on earth and there was no difference between them." It tells of a polar bear cub stolen from his mother by Raven and rescued in the frozen wilderness by an Inuit hunter whose sled dogs carry him home. The hunter and his wife discover the fur-wrapped bundle to be a child, whom they lovingly raise. Seven years later, following a trail of precious amber cunningly deposited by Raven across the great Arctic snowpack, the child becomes lost, but he is rescued by a pack of polar bears that carries him to his polar bear mother. The bereft Inuit father searches for and finds his child, who now finds himself torn between his animal family and the humans who raised him. A compromise is reached: the child will live with the bears through the winter and with the people all summer, teaching them the wisdom of the bears. Pair this beautifully illustrated, mystic Arctic/Inuit story with a straightforward account of global warming's threat to the polar bear for a thoughtful illumination of humankind's need to live in harmony with nature.—Kathleen Finn, St. Francis Xavier School, Winooski, VT

School Library Journal

In a mythical time, animals and humans live harmoniously.

A polar bear loses a cub to the raven. A hunter hears a raven's cry and discovers a human baby. He and his wife have been longing for a child, and now he is theirs. Then the raven lures the child, now seven years old, away, and he is rescued by the polar bears. Torn between the love of his bear family and his human family, he chooses both, living as a bear in winter and a human in summer, sharing all that he learns with both families. With lovely imagery and a gentle tone, Morris creates an Arctic world that is at once highly descriptive and wildly imaginative. But some of the magic, perhaps intended as allegorical, is too elusive and fey for its intended audience. The mysterious raven has no persona and is never questioned or explained. He seems to be merely a convenient plot device to manipulate the characters. Strikingly beautiful watercolors in a remarkable variety of whites in endless winter landscapes juxtapose with warm, vibrant colors of the humans' habitat and clothing and the sharp contrast of the raven's sleek black feathers. Perspective is designed to zoom in tightly to evoke a strong sense of empathy for the characters.

Visually stunning, the tale succeeds best as a fanciful, wistful cuddle-up bedtime story. (Picture book. 5-8)

Kirkus Reviews