Snow Bears (Hardback)

From the Publisher
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.

Laura Hummel – Children’s Literature
Mama bear finds her three baby bears outside covered with snow and the game begins. Pretending to be snow bears the biggest cub declares, ‘I don’t know where we are.’ The other bears chime in with, ‘I haven’t seen us’ and ‘We aren’t here, Mommy Bear.’ The snow bears play games with mama bear. They slide down hills and throw snowballs, but soon baby bear becomes too cold to continue playing. When they go inside for warm toast, the snow melts away leaving behind the baby bears. Soft watercolor and pencil drawing capture the animal antics. Wonderful expressions and body movements portray the loving relationship between mother and children. The sweet story invites one to sit by the fire and share warm toast with a special child. 2002, Candlewick Press,

School Library Journal
PreS-Young children will easily associate with the pretend game that three little bears play. When their mother comes outside, the snow-covered cubs tell her that they are ‘snow bears,’ and she asks where her babies are. ‘I don’t know where we are,’ says the biggest one. ‘We aren’t here, Mummy Bear,’ says the littlest one. So, she frolics with them instead. Eventually, the smallest one gets cold and they all go inside for hot toast, where their covering melts and they reveal that they were just pretending. The story is slight and not particularly original, but youngsters are likely to enjoy the repeated refrain about not having seen Mummy’s bears, and the very predictability of the text is reassuring. The color illustrations are pleasant, with large, realistically drawn bears, making the fact that they live in a house rather than in a cave seem somewhat incongruous. However, their activities work equally well for bears or preschoolers, and the large, fuzzy creatures on the snowy background are appealing. This title does not live up to the caliber of the author’s Owl Babies or Can’t You Sleep Little Bear (both Candlewick, 1992), but the target audience is likely to find it engaging.-Amy Lilien-Harper, The Ferguson Library, Stamford, CT Copyright 2003 Cahners Business Information.