The Last Polar Bear

by Jean Craighead George, Wendell Minor (Illustrator)

Overview

Bestselling duo Jean Craighead George and Wendell Minor team up to show young readers the natural world. The Last Polar Bear is a poignant tale about a boy desperate to save one of the last polar bears in the rapidly changing Arctic environment. Can Tigluk and his grandmother help the young cub who lost his mother?

Frequent collaborators Jean Craighead George and Wendell Minor present another beautiful and moving picture book to join their well-received books Everglades and Galapagos George.

Supports the Common Core State Standards

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780061240690
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	08/26/2014
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	9.70(w) x 9.70(h) x 0.20(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Jean Craighead George wrote over one hundred books for children and young adults. Her novel Julie of the Wolves won the Newbery Medal in 1973, and she received a 1960 Newbery Honor for My Side of the Mountain. Born into a family of famous naturalists, Jean spent her entire career writing books that celebrated the natural world.

Wendell Minor is nationally known for the artwork he has created for over sixty award-winning children’s books. His many collaborators include Jean Craighead George, Robert Burleigh, Buzz Aldrin, Tony Johnston, Nikki Grimes, Mary Higgins Clark, and, last but not least, his wife, Florence. He is also the author and illustrator of My Farm Friends.

Editorial Reviews

K-Gr 2—George attempts to bring home the plight of the polar bear due to global warming and climate change. The text is simple, with only two or three sentences per page. Tigluk sees a polar bear approaching from his window, and he goes out to meet it. He comes face to face with the animal, who seems to be asking him to follow it. The child and his grandmother repair the sealskin kayak that has been damaged by floating garbage and head off to find the bear. Instead they find a cub nestled on one of the few remaining ice floes. They name him Pilluk, which means "to survive," and return with him to their village. "Our town will feed Pilluk, the last of the polar bears, and show him how to live in a warming world." There is a problem here in terms of the unlikeliness of this scenario—there are no details as to how the people are going to approach teaching the cub. Minor's exquisite watercolors are riveting, however, and capture the beauty (and chill) of the frozen landscape with panache, and children will be drawn to the book by the endearing picture of the cub on the cover. The story can perhaps serve as a vehicle for introducing the subject of global warming, but, in and of itself, it raises more questions than it answers.—Grace Oliff, Ann Blanche Smith School, Hillsdale, NJ

School Library Journal

Returning to the Arctic, George presents a tale that is simultaneously a warning about global warming/pollution and a surreal meeting between a boy and Nanuq, the polar bear. Seeing an approaching polar bear, Tigluk puts on his gear and goes out to meet the enormous bear, who seems to want Tigluk to follow her. He and his grandmother, aka, do just that after repairing their kayak. They discover an apparently orphaned polar bear cub and decide to take it back to the village to feed it and teach it to survive in a world where the ice is melting. The author's trademark careful folding of facts into story is missing here-the characters' words are often pointed barbs aimed at those who pollute, and the tale itself is more far-fetched than her usual fare. Minor's paintings focus on the people and animals with close-up views reflecting the colors and sights of the Far North, and readers are sure to feel a chill in the air. Ultimately, though, this is troublingly didactic. (Picture book. 5-7)

Kirkus Reviews