This little bear should have stayed at home.
The little polar bear’s newest adventure in this Swiss series takes him on a journey to China.
When Lars the polar bear curiously follows a group of tourists to the Arctic he becomes an accidental cruise-ship stowaway. Even though his new mouse friends on the ship are fun, the cub can’t wait to get home. Smuggled off the ship at the first port, Lars finds himself in a vast bamboo forest. There, he encounters Ying and Yong, twin pandas, who help him scale the Great Wall of China, the first step on his trip north. On the other side, a friendly otter named Oleg smuggles him onto an Arctic-bound mail plane. A joyful reunion with his relieved parents draws the adventure to a close. Following the formula established by previous Little Polar Bear titles, there’s minimal new ground covered in Lars’ newest adventure. While the journey is one of many miles, the story lacks urgency. Even Lars, a smile almost always upon his face, seems to know that nothing bad could ever come his way. Supporting characters are merely cardboard figures meant to convey Lars from one plot point to the next. Unfortunately, the depiction of the panda cubs begins with their cringeworthy names and continues with a description of them as nearly identical, a common Asian stereotype. Most alarmingly, Lars shows his parents what a panda looks like by smearing dirt on his father while his mother simpers, “Now black and white will be all the rage in the Arctic!” The parallels to blackface and the idea of race as fashionable are surpassingly distressing. Readers itching for an animal travelogue should opt instead for Longy Han and Elinor Hägg’s more authentic treatment, Gusto & Gecko Travel to China (2018). (This book was reviewed digitally with 10.15-by-17-inch double-page spreads viewed at 63% of actual size.)
This little bear should have stayed at home. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Feb. 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-7358-4428-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: NorthSouth
Review Posted Online: Nov. 17, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Only for dedicated fans of the series.
When a kid gets the part of the ninja master in the school play, it finally seems to be the right time to tackle the closet monster.
“I spot my monster right away. / He’s practicing his ROAR. / He almost scares me half to death, / but I won’t be scared anymore!” The monster is a large, fluffy poison-green beast with blue hands and feet and face and a fluffy blue-and-green–striped tail. The kid employs a “bag of tricks” to try to catch the monster: in it are a giant wind-up shark, two cans of silly string, and an elaborate cage-and-robot trap. This last works, but with an unexpected result: the monster looks sad. Turns out he was only scaring the boy to wake him up so they could be friends. The monster greets the boy in the usual monster way: he “rips a massive FART!!” that smells like strawberries and lime, and then they go to the monster’s house to meet his parents and play. The final two spreads show the duo getting ready for bed, which is a rather anticlimactic end to what has otherwise been a rambunctious tale. Elkerton’s bright illustrations have a TV-cartoon aesthetic, and his playful beast is never scary. The narrator is depicted with black eyes and hair and pale skin. Wallace’s limping verses are uninspired at best, and the scansion and meter are frequently off.
Only for dedicated fans of the series. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4926-4894-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Perfect for those looking for a scary Halloween tale that won’t leave them with more fears than they started with. Pair with...
Reynolds and Brown have crafted a Halloween tale that balances a really spooky premise with the hilarity that accompanies any mention of underwear.
Jasper Rabbit needs new underwear. Plain White satisfies him until he spies them: “Creepy underwear! So creepy! So comfy! They were glorious.” The underwear of his dreams is a pair of radioactive-green briefs with a Frankenstein face on the front, the green color standing out all the more due to Brown’s choice to do the entire book in grayscale save for the underwear’s glowing green…and glow they do, as Jasper soon discovers. Despite his “I’m a big rabbit” assertion, that glow creeps him out, so he stuffs them in the hamper and dons Plain White. In the morning, though, he’s wearing green! He goes to increasing lengths to get rid of the glowing menace, but they don’t stay gone. It’s only when Jasper finally admits to himself that maybe he’s not such a big rabbit after all that he thinks of a clever solution to his fear of the dark. Brown’s illustrations keep the backgrounds and details simple so readers focus on Jasper’s every emotion, writ large on his expressive face. And careful observers will note that the underwear’s expression also changes, adding a bit more creep to the tale.
Perfect for those looking for a scary Halloween tale that won’t leave them with more fears than they started with. Pair with Dr. Seuss’ tale of animate, empty pants. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Aug. 22, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4424-0298-0
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
