Pup and Bear

PreS-Gr 2—At the close of an Arctic winter, a wolf pup, stranded on an ice floe, is rescued by a polar bear. "I am not your mother," says the bear, but she assures the fearful pup that she will care for and shelter him. As the seasons turn, she protects the pup, plays with him, and teaches him to fish until at last it is time to let him go. Now an adult leading his own pack, the wolf discovers a lone polar bear cub and brings the kindness shown to him full circle. The illustrations, rendered in acrylic, ink, pencil, and pastels and digitally finished, depict the landscape in muted shades of gray, blue, green, and tan, with occasional splashes of color as the sun breaks over the frozen tundra. Alert readers will notice the gradual change in the wolf pup's coloring. Several other animals—puffins, a gray owl, a walrus, a snow goose, seals, and lemmings—also appear. The text contains poetic descriptions such as "fierce wind" that "holler[s] and roar[s]," and unexpected juxtapositions such as "[a] throb of silence." VERDICT The lyrical writing makes this a wonderful read-aloud. This story of extraordinary kindness may also prompt a discussion of diverse families. A first purchase.—Marianne Saccardi, Children's Literature Consultant, Cambridge, MA

Discovered by a polar bear, an accidentally abandoned wolf cub flattens his ears against his head in fear, declares, "You are not my mother," and expects the worst. "Aren't you going to eat me?" he asks. But the polar bear, for reasons never expressed, demurs and takes the cub into her life. While insisting "I am not your mother" again and again, she does everything a mother would: she cuddles him, keeps him safe, plays with him, teaches him how to catch food, and (eventually) sends him into the world. Painted, once again, on plywood, Stoop's compositions are largely composed along the same horizontal plane, mostly eschewing close-ups. And it works: the subdued visual mood is a lovely match for Banks's unadorned prose, and the characters' relationship to the harsh landscape underscores their resilience. By story's end, when the wolf pays the polar bear's kindness forward, it's clear that offering compassion is what keeps "the wondrous wheel of life" moving forward. Ages 3-7. Author's agent: Rick Margolis, Rising Bear Literary. Illustrator's agent: Brenda Bowen, Sanford J. Greenburger Associates. (Oct.)