Polar Bolero: A Bedtime Dance - Hardcover

PreS-Gr 1-When it becomes too hot to sleep, a baby polar bear ventures out to the "summer grasses at the edge of the lawn." This is "where the wide-awake meet" and dance the Polar Bolero until they become tired and return home and are gently tucked into bed. Oddly, the animal's home is depicted as a realistic-looking vintage refrigerator, which is not an appropriate home for any living being. It is not clear why it is too hot in the refrigerator, or why the story is not set in a polar region as the title might imply, and the baby and parent look more like teddy bears than polar bears. At times, the illustrations and text do not match. For example, the text states, "you DANCE in your dreams," but depicts animals that are neither dancing nor sleeping. Instead, they are hanging on to winged creatures and riding in a hot-air balloon. The cheerful, bright, and large watercolor illustrations might envelop adult and child as they share this bedtime story with words that arch and wave across the page, but there are plenty of better-executed, fanciful, and playful stories that will lull youngsters to sleep.

Helen Foster James, University of California at San Diego

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