Great Ice Bear: The Polar Bear and the Eskimo

Anne Wertheim graduated from the Technical College of Visual Communication in Hamburg, Germany, with a degree in illustration, and has exhibited her meticulously detailed artwork in Bologna, Italy, and Bratislava, Slovakia. Among the children's books she has illustrated is Cruesh, the Barn Owl, which she also coauthored. She lives in Haiku, Maui.

Grade 3-8-Of the recent titles on the great arctic bear, this book distinguishes itself by focusing on the interaction of the animals and their human neighbors, particularly the Inuit/Inupiat of Canada and Alaska. (Patent provides an introduction that explains her use of the less-favored term, Eskimo.) Aimed at an older audience than Debbie S. Miller's A Polar Bear Journey (Little, Brown, 1997) or Lesley DuTemple's Polar Bears (Lerner, 1997), this attractively designed explanation of the life cycle and environment of polar bears includes descriptions of their practical and spiritual uses to humans that have developed over time. An overview of the bears' global prospects includes a brief explanation of their protected status in the five polar bear nations as well as current environmental threats to their habitat. Wertheim's acrylic illustrations range from vignettes showing bears in the wild or in ivory effigy to double-page spreads depicting arctic landscapes. A well-designed map shows the range of the bears, the seasonal variations of pack ice, and the political boundaries. Although the scenes of humans hunting bears are limited to the traditional, the text makes it clear that, though protected, polar bears continue to be hunted. Contemporary scenes show tourists observing them in the wild near Churchill, Manitoba, and the animals that venture too close to the town being caught in modern nonlethal traps and relocated. Students and even their parents will find something here to pique their curiosity about these powerful creatures.
Sue Sherif, Fairbanks North Star Borough Public Library, AK
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