Baby Polar Bear

Born at the beginning of the Arctic winter, a male and female polar bear stay in the den for a number of months before they are ready to venture out. But soon they must follow their hungry mother out on the dangerous journey to the sea ice, where she will hunt for food. It will be several years before the little ones will be good enough hunters to fend for themselves in the Arctic wilderness.

Two polar bear cubs must leave the safety of the den and follow their mother through the frozen Arctic wilderness as she heads out to the sea ice to hunt for her first meal in many months. Another exciting story in the acclaimed Nature Babies series.

Children's Literature

The young polar bear's journey starts with the mother bear. The mother bear hunts for food on the cold ice and in the waters of the Arctic Ocean. Her feet help her to swim, while her thick skin and fur help her to stay warm. In the springtime, the female bear is tracked by a male bear following the footprints she has left in the snow. After several miles and days, the male bear will find her and mate. Then, he will leave. The female polar bear will hunt for food to help her grow and produce milk for the babies when they are born. She will eat and hunt seals as much as she can until the winter months, when she builds a den where her babies will be born. The mother bear teaches the babies what they will need to know to survive. The babies will not be left on their own until they are two-and-a-half years old. Lang provides enough details for the reader to understand the whole process with ease. The vocabulary and use of comparisons throughout the book work well with the factual information. The photographs are a tremendous complement to the text. They are clear and vivid. The author and photographer explain at the beginning how they learned about polar bears and acquired such pictures. There are also facts about polar bears at the end of the book to help the reader learn more. This picture book would be a great asset to a curriculum about habitats or the Arctic region. This is part of the "Nature Babies" series. Reviewer: Rachel Miller

Aubrey Lang and Dr. Wayne Lynch are a husband and wife writer/photographer team. Aubrey has spent the last eighteen years as a freelance writer and photographer. Wayne has been a fulltime science writer and wildlife photographer for twenty-eight years. His images have been published in more than forty countries.