Review by Booklist Review
An unlikely pair help each other in the fearsome but majestic Arctic in this fanciful wordless picture book. After a Native Alaskan girl befriends a polar bear with an act of kindness, the animal reciprocates by protecting her from a snowstorm. Together, the new pals share a meal, frolic in the snow, and weather dangerous winds before being reunited with their respective parents. With a limited palette of ice blue, textured whites, and luscious red, Korean author-illustrator Beck paints an otherworldly landscape in which readers will easily believe that a lonely girl would be completely safe with the usually scary but in this case, lovable creature. Darker shades outline the heroine's furry garb and black hair. Despite the lack of specificity of the protagonist's tribe, this work about friendship and kindness will strike a chord with children and grownups alike. The rich, fablelike tale will stimulate readers' imaginations, and caregivers will also delight in the wondrous spreads. Beck's striking American debut hints at promising work to come.--Shelley M. Diaz Copyright 2019 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Korean creator Beck imagines a wordless encounter between a polar bear and a young indigenous girl. An aerial view shows the fur-clad, rosy-cheeked child leaving her house, a tiny figure against a vast expanse of white. Using a fishhook tied to a short, stout stick, she has good luck while ice fishing, but when a storm overtakes her and she takes refuge in an igloo, she finds herself face-to-face with a polar bear who has the same idea. It raises its snout gently in greeting, she gives it fish and spreads her blanket over it, and it offers her warmth and affection inside and outside the structure. By the time they part, they are close friends. On the pages, the white bear is nearly invisible, its black eyes, snout, and claws marking its place. There's striking visual contrast between great swaths of snow-covered tundra and the small, concentrated areas in which the two figures play and cuddle before heading back to their respective families. And though it's a titch formulaic, the encounter of the huge beast with the tiny, vulnerable child delights. Ages 3--8. (Nov.)
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Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 2--This wordless picture book depicts the story of a young Indigenous girl who stumbles across a starving and weakened polar bear. She offers the bear a fish and her blanket (though it's much too small for such a big bear). Thankful for her generosity, the bear guides her through a snowstorm safely back to her home. The landscape illustrations are dazzling, though the pages of the bear and girl in the snow are the highlight of this book. Art teachers will covet it for its illustrations and the use of the white page, which effectively give a sense of just how much snow the bear and the girl are experiencing. VERDICT Purchase wherever wordless picture books are popular.--Shana Shea, Windsor Public Library, CT
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
An Arctic Native child and a polar bear forge a friendship in this wordless fable.At the end of a day of fishing, the child unexpectedly encounters a polar bear in the igloo. Rather than taking fright, the child reaches out to touch the polar bear's nose, and the creature accepts the gesture. Following a shared fish dinner, a relationship of mutual care and joy develops. But then the two must part after a heartfelt embrace, the bear to its own kind and the child to the family that awaits in the frame house that is their permanent residence. True to Indigenous wisdom, the picture book teaches reciprocity between the animal world and humankind. Perhaps less appealing for adult readers is the nature of the reciprocal portrait, as it does not depict either traditional gratitude between hunter and prey or the realistic fear that a big carnivore creates. Perhaps the lack of realism is the point: A hungry polar bear being fed by a human does not help the species in the real world, but in this world a child can make a difference, and the absence of text gives adult-child pairs ample room to imagine. Beck's illustrations emphasize meticulous detail against expanses of Arctic white, the hairs on the child's fur-trimmed parka and the bear's coat rendered with equally loving precisionThe imagination soars in this magical story of an unusual friendship. (Picture book. 4-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
