International Day of the Polar Bear: February 27

Whether you're interested in learning more about these magnificent mammals and their natural history or read about fictionalized accounts of their relationships with humans, this book list of youngCanLit titles should provide enough variety of fiction and non-fiction, picture books and novels, and even film to appease any reader interested in honouring the polar bear on February 27.


Picture Books

The Bear That Had No Bump of Locality

by Galt Denham

Illustrated by Bettie Kerkham

Vantage Press

30 pp.

Ages 6-9

1983

Ben and Nuki Discover Polar Bears

by Michelle Valberg

MV Photo Productions

38 pp.

Ages 7-9

2012

Bubbly Troubly Polar Bear
by Lisa Dalrymple
Illustrated by Elizabeth Pratt
Tuckamore Books
32 pp.
Ages 4-7
2013

Mikissuk's Secret

by Isabelle Lafonta

Illustrated by Barroux

Scholastic

40 pp.

Ages 6-8

2008

My Arctic 1, 2, 3

by Michael Arvaarluk Kusugak

Illustrated by Vladyana Krykorka

Annick Press

24 pp.

Ages 3-7

1996

The Orphan and the Polar Bear (Unikkaakuluit series)

by Sakiasi Qaunaq

Illustrated by Eva Widermann 

Inhabit Media

32 pp.
Ages 6-10

2011

Out on the Ice in the Middle of the Bay

by Peter Cumming

Illustrated by Alice Priestley

Annick Press

32 pp.

Ages 4-8

2004

Penguin and the Cupcake

by Ashley Spires

Simply Read

48 pp.

Ages 3-7

2014

The Polar Bear's Gift

by Jeanne Bushey

Illustrated by Vladyana Langer Krykorka

Red Deer Press

32 pp.

Ages 5-7

2000

The polar bear in the rock: two windows on the world = Nanuk ujagammi: unikkausikkut kaujimajunullu kaujisautinga

by Derek H. C. Wilton

Illus. by Cynthia Colosimo

Labrador Institute of Memorial Univ.
24 pp. 

2010

A Polar Bear Night of Stars and Light

by Jennifer LaBella

Windermere House Publishing

32 pp.

Ages 5-8

2008

Snow Bear

by Liliana Stafford

Illustrated by Lambert Davis

Groundwood/Douglas & McIntyre

32 pp.

Ages 6-9

2001

When Wishes Come True

by Per-Henrik Gürth 

Lobster Press

32 pp.

Ages 5-7

2009

Fiction

Frost

by Nicole Luiken
Great Plains Teen Fiction
158 pp.
Ages 14+
2007 

Frozen
by Lori Jamison

Illustrated by Charlie Hnatiuk

H.I.P. Books

75 pp.

Ages 11-17
2012

Ghosts of the Pacific

by Philip Roy

Ronsdale Press
251 pp.
Ages 11-14
2011

The Middle of Everywhere

by Monique Polak
Orca Book Publishers
208 pp.
Ages 12+
2009

Northern Exposures

by Eric Walters
HarperCollins

Ages 10+  

256 pp

2012

Payuk and the Polar Bears

by Vita Rordam

Borealis Press

44 pp.

Ages 8+

1981

The Pole
by Eric Walters
Penguin
256 pp.
Ages 10-14
2008

Sharla

by Budge Wilson

Fitzhenry & Whiteside

168 pp.
Ages 12-15
1997

Trapped in Ice

by Eric Walters

Viking/Penguin

205 pp.

Ages 9-13

1997

Trouble at the Top of the World (Screech Owls, #22)

by Roy MacGregor

McClelland & Stewart

127 pp.

Ages 9-13

2008

www.walkwithapolarbear.com

by Mercedes Montgomery 

Your Nickel’s Worth
125 pp.
Ages 9-13

2008

Non-Fiction

Arctic Adventures: Tales from the Lives of Inuit Artists

by Raquel Rivera

Illustrated by Jirina Marton

Groundwood/House of Anansi Press

48 pp.

Ages 8-12

2007

Arctic Icons: How the Town of Churchill Learned to Love Its Polar Bears
by Ed Struzik
Fitzhenry & Whiteside
212 pp.
Ages 15+
2014

Ava and the Little Folk

by Neil Christopher & Alan Neal

Illustrated by Jonathan Wright

Inhabit Media 

41 pp.

Ages 5-11

2012

Baby Polar Bear 
(Nature Babies series)

by Aubrey Lang 

Photography by Wayne Lynch

Fitzhenry & Whiteside 

35 pp.

Ages 5-7

2008

Bärle’s Story: One bear's amazing recovery from life as a circus act

by Else Poulsen

Greystone Books

227 pp.

Ages 14+

2014

Bears: Polar Bears, Black Bears and Grizzly Bears

by Deborah Hodge

Illustrated by Pat Stephens

Kids Can Press

32 pp.

Ages 5-11

1996

Canada’s Arctic Animals 
(Canada Close Up series)

by Chelsea Donaldson 

Scholastic 

44 pp.
Ages 6-8

2005

The Curse of Akkad: Climate Upheavals That Rocked Human History

by Peter Christie

Annick Press

144 pp.

Ages 11-14

2008

The Life Cycle of a Polar Bear 

by Rebecca Sjonger and Bobbie Kalman

Photographs by Marc Crabtree

Crabtree

32 pp.

Ages 8-11

2006

Nanook and Naoya: The Polar Bear Cubs

by Angele Delaunois

Translated by Mary Shelton

Photographs by Fred Bruemmer

Orca Book Publishers

48 pp.

Ages 8-11

1995

Polar Animals 
(Who Lives Here? series)

by Deborah Hodge 

Illustrated by Pat Stephens

Kids Can Press

24 pp.

Ages 4-7

2008

Polar Worlds: Life at the Ends of the Earth

by Robert Bateman with Nancy Kovacs

Scholastic Canada

48 pp.

Ages 8-12

2008

Vanishing Habitats 
by Robert Bateman 
Scholastic 
48 pp.
Ages 7-12
2009

Film

Arctic Circle = Cercle Arctique

Directed by Takashi Shibasaki, Atsushi Nishida and Wally Longui
Produced by Wally Longui, Cindy Witten and Toshiro Matsumoto
National Film Board of Canada

80 min.

Ages 12+
2009

Land of the Ice Bear
Directed by Andrew Manske and Albert Karvonen 

Produced by Albert Karvonen and Jerry Krepakevich 

National Film Board of Canada

46 min., 10 sec.

Order Number: C9199 224

Ages 15+

1999