Little Polar Bear: Where Are You Going, Lars? / El Osito Polar: ¿Adónde vas, Lars?

author: Hans De Bee

illustrator: Hans De Beer

translator (English): Dr. Kristy Koth

translator (Spanish) Beatriz Bernabé

NorthSouth Books, 2020; ages 8-up

This first book in the classic “Little Polar Bear” series by Hans de Beer was published in Switzerland in 1987 under the title, Kleiner Elsbär—Wohin Fährst du, Lars? In 2020, NorthSouth Books, in association with Edition bi:libri, co-published this story in ten bilingual editions. The bilingual (English-Spanish) version is reviewed here. 

After learning from his father the things that a young polar bear needs to know, young Lars and his dad build their snow piles and settle down to sleep. But when Lars wakes up, his dad is gone and he is all alone with his little snow pile, stranded on an ice floe in the middle of the ocean.

Lost and frantic, Lars encounters a friendly hippo, who takes him across the river; a helpful eagle, who escorts him to the bay; and a generous whale, who navigates him home to his family. 

The Spanish translation is excellent. When Lars meets the hippo, for instance, “a huge animal emerges in front of him,” and Lars runs away. “Wait, wait! I’m just teasing you!” yells the big animal. The idiomatic Spanish—“¡Espera, espera!¡Sólo te estaba tomando el pelo!”—translates literally as “Wait! Wait! I’m just taking your hair!”

The author’s beautiful illustrations—in what appear to be pen-and-ink and mostly pastel-hued watercolors—complement this warm story of a bear cub in a cold environment.  

Unfortunately, in centering the little bear’s whiteness—making whiteness thematic—the story dives into precarious waters. While, of course, it’s appropriate to describe a polar bear as white, and ice as white, there is this: 

• The hippo asks him: Why are you so white?
• And he answers: Where I come from, everything is white!
• When Lars and his eagle-friend stray into Africa (a racially and ethnically mixed continent) the eagle appears to signify: Well, well, a polar bear in Africa! You’re a long way from home…
• When Lars arrives home and tells his father about his adventures, his father asks, And no one there was white? Not anyone?

Used with caution, and possibly as an instrument for discussion with older readers, Little Polar Bear / El Osito Polar is recommended.

—Beverly Slapin

(published 7/16/2021)

The Rainbow Fish / El Pez Arcoíris

 

author: Marcus Pfister

illustrator: Marcus Pfister

translator (English): Dr. Kristy Koth

translator (Spanish): Dr. Olga Balboa Sánchez

North / South Books, 2019, preschool-up

In 1992, Marcus Pfister wrote, illustrated, and published Der Regenbogenfisch in Switzerland. In 2019, Dr. Kristy Koth translated the story into English (The Rainbow Fish); and Dr. Olga Balboa Sánchez set it into Spanish (El pez arcoíris). This English / Spanish bilingual story is the product of these talents. 

On the cover is a fish—“the most beautiful fish in the ocean”—whose textured scales literally sparkle in all the colors of the rainbow. As the story begins, the other fish invite him to play, but he ignores them because he’s way too busy showing off his sparkling scales. When a little blue fish asks him for one of his beautiful scales, he refuses to share. This guy—let’s call him “Rainbow”—is so full of himself that the other fish decide they no longer want anything to do with him—and he becomes “the loneliest fish in the whole ocean.” 

On the advice of a helpful starfish-therapist, our sparkly-but-egotistical Rainbow consults the ocean’s resident wise Octopus, who suggests that Rainbow give each fish one of his scales—so he could trade, as it were, beauty for friendship and happiness. This is a majorly difficult choice for Rainbow. 

But once he starts giving away his sparkly scales—the first one to the little blue fish who had previously asked him for one and whom he had rebuffed—Rainbow changes. He begins to feel happier with each gift and he begins to know what it is to have friends—“The more sparkly the water became, the more he enjoyed being among the fish.” In the end, Rainbow has only one glitter-scale left, and each of the fishes has one as well. And the entire ocean sparkles.

Pfister’s ink and watercolor art on a blue, green and sometimes purplish “ocean” background enhances Rainbow’s colorful metallic glitter scales; and as Rainbow distributes his sparkly scales to the other ocean denizens—leaving only one for himself—he realizes what it is to be happy, and goes off to join them in play. Two particular favorites are the illustrations in which Rainbow gives one of his sparkles to the excited and happy little blue fish, and another in which all the fish—each with one sparkly scale and a fishy grin—swim around Rainbow.

Rather than producing an exact Spanish translation, Dr. Olga Balboa Sánchez’s use of conversational Spanish demonstrates her own storytelling talent. For instance, where the English reads, “But he wasn’t a normal fish, no!” the Spanish reads, “¡Pero no era un pez cualquiera, no!” (“But he wasn’t just any fish, no!”) And when Rainbow ignores his friends, gliding past them, “silent and proud, letting his scales glitter,” the Spanish reads, “Pero el pez Arcoíris siempre se deslizaba callado yorgulloso a su lado mostrando sus escamas brillantes” (“But the Rainbow fish always glided quietly and proudly by their side showing his shiny scales.”)

Young readers and listeners will particularly enjoy Rainbow’s textured sparkly scales on the cover. 

With shimmery holographic art providing the textured fishy sparkles, The Rainbow Fish / El Pez Arcoíris is a delightful story that encourages young children to experience the joy of sharing.  

*Highly recommended for all home, classroom and library collections. 

—Beverly Slapin

(published 7/14/2021)