Ice Bear: In the Steps of the Polar Bear by Nicola Davies (1 bk)

Davis, Nicola. (2005). Illustrated by Gary Blythe. Ice bear: in the steps of the polar bear.
Cambridge, Massachusetts: Candlewick Press. 32 pages. ISBN 0-7636-2759-3

Award: Outstanding Science Trade Book for K-12, 2006

Genre: This book is categorized as fiction, but is full of factual information.

Category: Science-The Library of Congress categorizes this book as juvenile fiction. The Book List Review categorizes it as nonfiction full of factual information, but written from the perspective of a fictional Inuit speaker.

Grade: K-4th

Genre: informational picture book

Credibility of author: The author thanked Kusagak from Rankin Inlet, Canada, for his help during the preparation of this book.

Summary: This book describes the life of the polar bear in the Arctic and its relationship to the Inuit people. It describes the physical features of the polar bear, as well as, how it hunts, plays, and takes care of its cubs. It talks about how some scientists believe that 40,000 years ago the Inuit people learned how to survive in the Arctic by watching polar bears.

Standards: Life Science IV: Environment and Ecology

Illustrations: Richly done in oil and pencil in an impressionist style on woven canvas, giving the illustrations a textured look

Text font, size: Oxalis Alternate DemiBold. It uses large narrative text and smaller informative text to meet the needs of a variety of levels.

Text structure: narrative

Access features: subject index

Use: I would use this book when studying mammals or global warming. The last page of the book lists some things children can do to help preserve the polar bear’s Arctic home that’s melting away due to global warming. I would use this book as a read aloud for younger children and independent reading for older children.

Response: This book was both beautifully written and illustrated. I loved the way the story was told through the eyes of the Inuit people, while at the same time presenting facts in a smaller text. The illustrations were so sweetly done that it made you want to reach out and pet the polar bears.

Related texts: The size of the book and illustrations with all of the blue colors denoting water, snow, and ice reminded me of A Mother’s Journey (Marble). Both books followed the life cycle of animals in a bitterly cold environment-Antarctica for the emperor penguins and the Arctic for the polar bears. Each shared the common thread of a mother’s love for her babies. Arctic Lights, Arctic Nights (Miller) also features animals that live in the Arctic. Ice Bear and Little Fox (Mattson)