Snow Bears

When Mommy Bear comes to look for her baby bears, she finds three snow bears instead. They don't look quite like her bears, but they do like to slide down the snowy slope and throw snowballs, just like her bears do. Little readers will love being in on the charming snow-bear game, recounted by master storyteller Martin Waddell and illustrated by Sarah Fox-Davies with all the crisp beauty of a snowy day.

Publishers Weekly

What has happened to Mommy Bear's children? It seems that a trio of playful, snow-covered creatures has replaced them. While Mommy has fun sliding and "snowballing" with these snowy three, she can't help wondering aloud concerning the whereabouts of her offspring. But the responses are always strikingly similar: "I don't know where we are," answers the oldest snow bear. "I haven't seen us," says the middle snow bear. "We aren't here, Mommy Bear," replies the youngest. Once inside Mommy Bear's snuggly cabin, however, the snow melts to reveal Mommy's missing cubs. While Fox-Davies's (Bat Loves the Night) delicate watercolor-and-ink pictures capture the stillness of a world blanketed in snow, her sweet-natured characterizations make the ursine family appear rather inert in the invigorating chill, tempering the book's frisky theme. But Waddell's (Webster J. Duck) economic prose keeps the story from becoming overly warm-hearted, and his keen ear for child-sized absurdity will strike a chord of recognition with any reader who has succumbed to a snowfall's invitation to play. Ages 3-6. (Jan.) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Martin Waddell is the author of many well-loved books for children, including CAN'T YOU SLEEP, LITTLE BEAR? - one of four tales about Big Bear and Little Bear - FARMER DUCK, OWL BABIES, WEBSTER J. DUCK, and WHO DO YOU LOVE? He got the idea of writing SNOW BEARS, he says, when "I was watching some children pretending to be someone else, and I thought, what a beautiful story."

Sarah Fox-Davies has illustrated many picture books for children, including LITTLE CAIRBOU, which she also wrote; WALK WITH A WOLF by Janni Howker; and BAT LOVES THE NIGHT by Nicola Davies. She says that while doing research for the illustrations of SNOW BEARS, she "saw a great many snowballs being thrown and ate really big piles of toast by the fireside."