Mama, Why?

A lullaby featuring a polar bear mother and cub joins the legions of other tales of young ones asking their mothers the familiar—why? “When the moon sails high in the Artic sky, / Polar cub asks, ‘Mama, why?’ / Mama answers, ‘Moon floats up there / to say good night to polar bears. / He glides above to shine sweet dreams / and sends them down on silver beams.’” Mama adds, “When the moon sends dreams of princes and queens, / he turns wondrous stories into dreams.” While the sleepy polar cub continues to ask “why” in response to each of his mother’s lyrical explanations, the mixed-media illustrations imbue a dreamy quality to the spare text. Amid the misty aura, the bears are almost photographically realistic, especially their fur texture. Mendez sprinkles stars liberally about his spreads, their luster adding to the silvery sheen of the moon against the dark Arctic night, as if channeling Thomas Kinkade. As Mama’s explanations grow ever more fanciful, he incorporates fanciful imagery from the standard (pirate ships, royal coaches) to refreshingly original (bears and a trio of seals put together in the night sky). The overall effect is soothing, affectionate, precious and cozy—practically guaranteed to lull little ones to sleep. (Picture book. 3-5)

Copyright 2011 Kirkus Reviews, LLC Used with permission.

Snuggling up with its mother, a baby polar bear wonders why the moon is in the sky. "Moon floats up there/ to say goodnight to polar bears," answers its mother. Of course, that's not enough for an inquisitive youngster (of any species), but Mama is more than willing to indulge her cub. The moon, she says, is friends with the globe-trotting stars, and dreams are the stories that the stars have told the moon. And snow? That's the stars' version of a contrail. If this sounds too sweet for its own good, rest assured that this lullaby never steps over the line. Wilson's conversational style beautifully captures a homespun imagination and the feel of a mother's end-of-day murmurs to her "dearest one." There's genuine magic in Mendez's soft-focus arctic scenes, particularly the way his lighting conveys the warm glow of the moon, the glittering night, and the glacial air. And he gives the bears' thick white fur an extraordinary palpability: it's almost as if it could billow with each turn of the page. Ages 3-7. (Mar.)

PreS-K--A mama polar bear answers her baby's questions about dreams in this soft lullaby. As the stars travel around the world, "they see such sights. They share them with Moon as they twinkle at night." And in turn, "Such wondrous stories the moon must share. He turns them to dreams for polar bears." Wilson's soothing verses are paired with Mendez's astoundingly beautiful mixed-media illustrations. The lifelike mother and child are superimposed against ethereal backgrounds of the Moon, swirling stars, Arctic landscapes, an aurora borealis, and other fantastic images. The gentle story is just right for sending young children drifting off to dreamland.--Martha Simpson, Stratford Library Association, CT