Polar Bear Leaps

School Library Journal

ea. vol: illus. by John Butler. unpaged. (Growing Up Bks.). CIP. Sierra Club/Knopf. Sept. 1985. PSm $4.95; PLB $6.99. PreS-Gr 2 As in the earlier volumes of this series, each book involves an animal parent and child. The youngster manages to get in some difficulty until the parent intervenes. By overcoming the problem, the young animal achieves another step toward maturity. In Elephant Bathes, for example, the little elephant's explorations lead him to stick his trunk into an old tree containing hornets. Mother soothes him and shows him how to stop insects from biting by taking a cool bath followed by a generous application of dust. The writing is adequate and avoids the pitfall of trying to translate animal lessons into human ones. But the illustrations even more solidly place the book's characters into their habitats. Butler's use of color and shading creates realities of Arctic ice and tropical jungles that must be as lovely as the actual scenes. The nearly photographic quality of the illustrations will capture the imagination of pre-readers who will be encouraged also to create their own stories. Kathy Piehl, Mankato State Univ . , Minn.