Polarity Bear Tours the Zoo: A Central Park Adventure by Sue De Cuevas, Wendy Rasmussen

Polarity Bear Tours the Zoo: A Central Park Adventure by Sue De Cuevas

Polarity Bear Tours the Zoo is a beautifully illustrated book (suitable for ages 3-8) about an imaginary polar bear’s adventures in New York’s Central Park Zoo. Set at the time when the zoo made the transformation from cages to more natural habitats, it also celebrates three leading Central Park attractions: the sea lion pool, the Delacorte Clock, and the carousel.

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is one of the prettiest children’s books I have seen in hardcover. The illustrations are big, full page pictures with an abundance of detail.

The story is written in rhyme and is fun to read aloud with the young person in your life (or to yourself.) I enjoyed sharing this with my children and felt it helped them to learn about some of the qualities of polar bears and other animals mentioned in the story.

One thing that set this book apart from others I have shared with my children of the same sort, is that the emotions on the polar bear’s face really seem to match what is happening in the story. My kids pointed out that the bear could look frightened, happy, dizzy and a variety of other ways depending on what was happening in the prose at that time. I love that the illustrations reflected the story so well.

This was long enough to read as a bedtime story and the children are interested in hearing it again, so it must have been great. It made them laugh and encouraged them to ask questions, both wonderful.

I would recommend this to parents, grandparents or others with small children in their lives. It would make a perfect holiday gift for a child who loves books.