A bear far from home

In the thirteenth century, King Haakon of Norway gifted to King Henry III of England a white bear, which Henry added to his menagerie in the Tower of London. Few details outside of this are known, but Fletcher fills in the gaps with logical imaginings, easily distinguished as such, that center on the bear's experiences, entreating readers to "Imagine / how the world / must have seemed to her." Fletcher's gentle storytelling, laced with empathy, takes on the feeling of a fairy tale, into which readers will slip as easily as a polar bear diving into water. Green's marvelous folk-style illustrations take their cues from medieval artwork, framing scenes with thick, gold borders and flowery flourishes. Cheery blues and whites prevail in the earliest part of the story, during which the bear is still a cub in Norway's snowy landscape, but a greenish tone washes over the illustrations when the trappers arrive to capture the bear and take her to England. King Henry's order to let the bear swim and fish in the Thames each day is a slight consolation that, Fletcher supposes, gives the bear a taste of home. Notes from the creators follow the story, offering specifics on how each crafted their part of the book. It is a beautiful package that puts a beating heart into history.

This picture book draws on history to tell the story of a polar bear gifted to King Henry III for his Tower of London menagerie, asking readers to envision the creature's experiences and emotions as she voyages from her Norway birthplace to England. "Imagine/ how the world/ must have seemed to her," prompts the narrative as it traces the bear's early life, capture by trappers, and subsequent journey to court. "Did she look back/ to search the horizon,/ longing for a glimpse of home?" read empathic musings about the creature's presumed transport via ship. While it's unclear whether the bear encountered Henry III ("We'll never know for sure"), records show she was eventually allowed to fish in the River Thames, where Fletcher questionably suggests she found a new "home" as a captive. Presenting varied human skin tones throughout, Green's stylized gouache and pencil renderings complement through their use of ornate, medieval-inspired borders and floral flourishes. Together, text and image offer a unique combination of sympathetic speculation and historical grounding. Ages 4--8. (Sept.)

Fact: "King Haakon IV of Norway gave Henry III of England a white bear, which went to live in the Tower of London in 1251 or 1252." Little else is known other than that King Henry decreed that the creature should be tethered and let out of its cage every day to swim and fish in the Thames. Fletcher, who has previously written about this unusual piece of history in her middle-grade novel Journey of the Pale Bear, can only speculate about the bear's exact species (she chose a polar bear, indigenous to Norway), gender (female), fate (why the king allowed it to go outside), and feelings (finding home again in the river). The text is clear about what are educated guesses ("imagine how the world must have seemed"; "we'll never know for sure") and "what we do know." Green's rich-hued gouache and colored-pencil illustrations, featuring gold-framed panels and ornamentation, were inspired by early medieval illustrations, and they arguably steal the show here, providing a real sense of place and time. She also skillfully varies colors and perspectives within her decorative panels and realistically depicts the bear's movements and expressions, all of which help convey the emotions the bear might have experienced on her journey back to the water. Back matter gives information and bibliographies not only about the bear but also about the exotic-animals menagerie that used to exist at the Tower of London. Cynthia K. Ritter November/December 2022 p.106(c) Copyright 2022. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

In this reconstruction of a historical incident, a captive polar bear travels from the frozen north to a menagerie on the Thames. Building on scanty records of a gift sent from Haakon IV of Norway to Henry III of England in the 13th century, Fletcher focuses less on such specifics as how the bear was captured or kept under control (while, apparently, being allowed to dive at will into the Thames for fish!) and more on how it might have felt to be snatched from the icy waters of her native clime, transported on a ship, and caged among other captive animals in the Tower of London. In compositions that generally echo those of medieval manuscript pages, Green likewise takes an anthropomorphic slant on the tale--skipping fussy realism (the visuals don't depict, for instance, how the bear was caught) but explaining in a note that she wanted to capture the bear's feelings at each stage of the journey and depicting her looking angry, confused, and, in a final dive into cold (albeit fresh) waters, smiling in relief from a sense of being home. Is this a story about the mistreatment of animals? Yes, in part…but its evocation of the emotional effects of being displaced and taken across the sea to a "strange and loud and lonely" world may carry more immediate resonance to young audiences encountering similar experiences. The author separates fact from fancy at the end, allowing that the bear's gender and even species are speculations, and closes with quick histories of the Tower of London and the menagerie. (This book was reviewed digitally.) Sweet, artfully conjured, and likely to elicit strong reactions on several levels. (bibliography) (Informational picture book. 7-9) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.