Little Polar Bear Finds a Friend

by Hans de Beer

Overview

While searching for someone to play with, Lars gets caught in a trap and finds himself in a cargo plane destined for a zoo.

Luckily, his cage breaks open. With the help of a huge walrus, Lars sets the other animals free—including a cute brown bear named Bea. As the animals run away from the airport, the poor walrus is left behind. True friends, Lars and Bea bravely go back to help, narrowly escaping the animal traders. But after they all escape, Bea is crying—she’ll never find her parents again. When Lars happily invites her to join his family, she is worried because her fur isn’t the same color. “What difference does that make?” says Lars. “Bears are bears!”

Back in print, fans of the Little Polar Bear books will find humor and heart in this story about new friendships.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780735844506
Publisher:	NorthSouth Books
Publication date:	03/16/2021
Series:	LITTLE POLAR BEAR
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	886,603
Product dimensions:	8.50(w) x 10.15(h) x 0.30(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Hans de Beer was born in Muiden, near Amsterdam, Holland. After briefly studying history, he finished his studies at the Rietveld Art Academy in Amsterdam. Little Polar Bear, Hans’s art school graduation project, brought him worldwide success and countless awards, and has been translated into thirty languages so far. Today Hans lives and works as a freelance illustrator with his wife, the Italian illustrator Serena Romanelli, in Amsterdam and near Florence, Italy.

Editorial Reviews

K-Gr 3-- First introduced in Little Polar Bear (1987) and Ahoy There, Little Polar Bear (1988, both North-South), the frisky cub, Lars, is now captured while searching for a playmate and is placed in an airplane cargo-hold full of animals destined for a zoo. He frees himself and the other animals, traveling back to his Arctic home with a walrus and a small brown bear. The would-be adventure story is so understated that little excitement is generated, and each event is described so briefly that the drama of Lars's capture, escape, and long trek home is downplayed. Instead, the emphasis is on friendship and cooperation, as each animal makes a special contribution to the journey's success. De Beer's subtle promotion of positive relations among races is marred by the bear's feeling that her brown color will make her unacceptable. The overall effect is gently didactic, but not overbearingly so. The large watercolors are appealing and certainly show more energy and emotion than the text. The animals' faces are expressive and slightly comical, and the little round bodies of the cubs are endearing. The size of the illustrations reflects the grandness of the events, and makes them particularly suited for group sharing. --Danita Nichols, New York Public Library

School Library Journal