The Last Polar Bear (Laura Geringer Books) [Library Binding]

Jean Craighead George (Author), Wendell Minor (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 4 and up | Grade Level: P and up | Series: Laura Geringer Books

The world is warming, and the ice is melting. Tigluk must save the last polar bear.

From master storyteller Jean Craighead George, with art from the critically acclaimed Wendell Minor.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Kindergarten-Grade 2—George attempts to bring home the plight of the polar bear due to global warming and climate change. The text is simple, with only two or three sentences per page. Tigluk sees a polar bear approaching from his window, and he goes out to meet it. He comes face to face with the animal, who seems to be asking him to follow it. The child and his grandmother repair the sealskin kayak that has been damaged by floating garbage and head off to find the bear. Instead they find a cub nestled on one of the few remaining ice floes. They name him Pilluk, which means "to survive," and return with him to their village. "Our town will feed Pilluk, the last of the polar bears, and show him how to live in a warming world." There is a problem here in terms of the unlikeliness of this scenario—there are no details as to how the people are going to approach teaching the cub. Minor's exquisite watercolors are riveting, however, and capture the beauty (and chill) of the frozen landscape with panache, and children will be drawn to the book by the endearing picture of the cub on the cover. The story can perhaps serve as a vehicle for introducing the subject of global warming, but, in and of itself, it raises more questions than it answers.—Grace Oliff, Ann Blanche Smith School, Hillsdale, NJ
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

About the Author

Jean Craighead George is the author of over eighty books for children and young adults. Her novel Julie of the Wolves won the Newbery Medal in 1973, and her novel My Side of the Mountain was a Newbery Honor Book in 1960. She has continued to write acclaimed picture books and novels that celebrate the natural world. She lives in Chappaqua, New York, and has had over 173 pets in the time she has lived there, among them geese and ducks.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4 and up
  
• Library Binding: 32 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins (October 13, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061240680
• ISBN-13: 978-0061240683
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 10.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,467,368 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jean Craighead George was born in a family of naturalists. Her father, mother, brothers, aunts and uncles were students of nature. On weekends they camped in the woods near their Washington, D.C. home, climbed trees to study owls, gathered edible plants and made fish hooks from twigs. Her first pet was a turkey vulture. In third grade she began writing and hasn't stopped yet. She has written over 100 books.Her book, Julie of the Wolves won the prestigious Newbery Medal, the American Library Association's award for the most distinguished contribution to literature for children, l973. My Side of the Mountain, the story of a boy and a falcon surviving on a mountain together, was a 1960 Newbery Honor Book. She has also received 20 other awards.She attended Penn State University graduating with a degree in Science and Literature. In the 1940s she was a reporter for The Washington Post and a member of the White House Press Corps. After her children were born she returned to her love of nature and brought owls, robins, mink, sea gulls, tarantulas - 173 wild animals into their home and backyard. These became characters in her books and, although always free to go, they would stay with the family until the sun changed their behavior and they migrated or went off to seek partners of their own kind.When her children, Twig, Craig and Luke, were old enough to carry their own backpacks, they all went to the animals. They climbed mountains, canoed rivers, hiked deserts. Her children learned about nature and Jean came home and to write books. Craig and Luke are now environmental scientists and Twig writes children's books, too.One summer Jean learned that the wolves were friendly, lived in a well-run society and communicated with each other in wolf talk -- sound, sight, posture, scent and coloration. Excited to learn more, she took Luke and went to the Naval Arctic Research Laboratory in Barrow, Alaska, where scientists were studying this remarkable animal. She even talked to the wolves in their own language. With that Julie of the Wolves was born. A little girl walking on the vast lonesome tundra outside Barrow, and a magnificent alpha male wolf, leader of a pack in Denali National Park were the inspiration for the characters in the book. Years later, after many requests from her readers, she wrote the sequels, Julie and Julie's Wolf Pack.She is still traveling and coming home to write. In the last decade she has added two beautiful new dimensions to her words beautiful full-color picture book art by Wendell Minor and others and - music. Jean is collaborating with award-winning composer, Chris Kubie to bring the sounds of nature to her words.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful book for early readers, March 23, 2011

By 

Kelly Schuknecht "Vice President, Outskirts P... - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Last Polar Bear (Laura Geringer Books) (Hardcover)

My six-year-old brought this book home from the library. I stumbled over some of the names and a few foreign words, but faked my way through it (my six-year-old didn't know the difference anyway). Towards the end of the book her reactions almost brought me to tears. It is a very touching book, easy to read and understand.