Snow Bears - Hardcover

Martin Waddell is the author of many well-loved books for children, including CAN'T YOU SLEEP, LITTLE BEAR? - one of four tales about Big Bear and Little Bear - FARMER DUCK, OWL BABIES, WEBSTER J. DUCK, and WHO DO YOU LOVE? He got the idea of writing SNOW BEARS, he says, when "I was watching some children pretending to be someone else, and I thought, what a beautiful story."

Sarah Fox-Davies has illustrated many picture books for children, including LITTLE CAIRBOU, which she also wrote; WALK WITH A WOLF by Janni Howker; and BAT LOVES THE NIGHT by Nicola Davies. She says that while doing research for the illustrations of SNOW BEARS, she "saw a great many snowballs being thrown and ate really big piles of toast by the fireside."

PreSchool-Young children will easily associate with the pretend game that three little bears play. When their mother comes outside, the snow-covered cubs tell her that they are "snow bears," and she asks where her babies are. "I don't know where we are," says the biggest one. "We aren't here, Mummy Bear," says the littlest one. So, she frolics with them instead. Eventually, the smallest one gets cold and they all go inside for hot toast, where their covering melts and they reveal that they were just pretending. The story is slight and not particularly original, but youngsters are likely to enjoy the repeated refrain about not having seen Mummy's bears, and the very predictability of the text is reassuring. The color illustrations are pleasant, with large, realistically drawn bears, making the fact that they live in a house rather than in a cave seem somewhat incongruous. However, their activities work equally well for bears or preschoolers, and the large, fuzzy creatures on the snowy background are appealing. This title does not live up to the caliber of the author's Owl Babies or Can't You Sleep Little Bear (both Candlewick, 1992), but the target audience is likely to find it engaging.
Amy Lilien-Harper, The Ferguson Library, Stamford, CT
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