CAROLYN LESSER
Written and illustrated by Carolyn Lesser
In bookstores on April 3, 2018
Published by Seagrass Press, an imprint of Quarto Publishing Group
“Listen.
The ice is alive.
What does it tell you, polar bear?”
Welcome to the wind-whipped Arctic, and behold a year in the life of the majestic polar bear. Read along as he treks through the ice, hunts for food, and slumbers as the seasons change. Great Polar Bear is a fascinating nonfiction introduction to this threatened species through the use of rich poetry and scientific vocabulary.
With her original vibrant gouache hand-painted papers, Carolyn cuts and tears those papers to create the images of Great Polar Bear and his world of the far North.
Enter the Arctic biome, as it was, twenty years ago, when Carolyn did her research, visiting for six winters and one summer…….then, following the poem on the Explorer’s Notes page in the book, find how climate change has affected the biome and its creatures.
Carolyn in Churchill, Manitoba 58.7' N lat.
Look inside the book:
Praise for the previous edition (The Great Crystal Bear):
“Lyrical in tone and accurate in zoological detail, the narrative is ideal for one-on-one sharing.”—School Library Journal
“In a rolling, poetic text, Lesser wonders about the life of a polar bear....She weaves her gentle musings with solid scientific information, as the bear searches for food, traps and eats a seal, and play fights with younger bears to teach them how to battle for a mate.....for primary-graders, this would make an evocative addition to a unit on the Arctic.”—Booklist
“Lesser weaves a surprising number of facts into a lyrical narrative about a year in the life of a polar bear. Readers learn how the bear's hollow white hairs gather sunlight while its black skin absorbs the heat, how it kills and eats and leaves behind meat for other, less able, animals.”—Kirkus Reviews
“Great Crystal Bear is exciting, neat and fun to read. It’s a book about a polar bear and how he mates and that he eats seals.....I would recommend this to about anyone who is interested in polar bears.—Taryn Butler, 10, Gold Hill Elementary, Tega Cay, SC, GRP”—The American Scientist, The Scientific Research Society
“Great Crystal Bear is a children’s book that will also appeal to adults, providing a lyrical, impressionistic, and yet factual look at the great white bears....the book is sure to become a favorite during storytime in your house.”—San Diego Zoo member newsletter
“This is a book children will enjoy hearing and reading over and over which will inform them of the life of one solitary animal in the world of large mammals.”—The Open Book