WHERE CAN WE GO?

A family of polar bears searches for a home.

As bear cubs Masha and Misha walk on hind legs, and their similarly upright Papa and Mama wear jewelry and other occasional items of dress, it’s easy to see them as climate change refugees—and indeed, it’s lack of food that prompts Papa’s announcement that it’s time to move. First stop: a trove of dumpsters. From there it’s on to some rooms in the oddly “square icebergs,” where everything is, as Mama puts it, “just right.” Oleynikov picks up the jocular tone nicely as he depicts the furry foursome making themselves cozy while ransacking a hastily abandoned apartment and (failing to notice fleeing light-skinned human figures) wondering where everyone has gone. Then, when at last loneliness and a general lack of substantial prey prompt thoughts of searching for a better home, glimpses on TV of Antarctic seals and penguins (“And what are those little black things?” “I don’t know….But they look tasty”) lead the ursine clan to continue on, carrying dolls, blankets, and other loot from the wreckage. Though the bears are the victims of global warming, they’re portrayed as clueless agents of destruction; it’s hard to tell whether this tongue-in-cheek tale, originally published in Chinese, is deliberately meant to leave readers with mixed feelings or is just tone-deaf. In either case the themes should inspire some discussion, and the spectacular messes on display in the pictures will invite a chuckle or two. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A pretty unsympathetic view of a growing and worrisome phenomenon.