My son went through a polar bear and penguin phase where he wanted to learn all about them. I searched for polar bear books at our library and made a list of our favorite ones. My son thinks polar are so cute, so great illustrations was a big criteria for selection!
8 Polar Bear Books:
1. A Polar Bear in the Snow by Mac Barnett–
My son really enjoys Mac Barnett’s stories! In this story we get to follow a polar bear on an adventure across a beautiful snow landscape. Sparse text filled with questions to the reader will keep preschoolers engaged. Shawn Harris’ paper collage images are awesome and wonderfully capture the bear’s journey.
2. Olaf and the Three Polar Bears by Caliope Glass–
It’s no secret that I love Olaf so we had to read to this one! This story is a new take on the classic folktale Goldilocks and the Three Bears featuring Olaf instead of Goldilocks. One day when Olaf was out exploring the woods of Arendelle with Anna and Else, when he got separated from his friends. He came across a cottage and goes in to see if the owners could help him find his friends. Instead of getting into mischief like Goldilocks would have done, Olaf is is his usual loveable self and ends up making friends with the bears!
3. Little Penguin’s New Friend by Tadgh Bentley–
This book is great because it has both a penguin and a polar bear to make my child doubly happy. In this story, a polar bear is coming to visit the penguins’ home! All of the penguins are worried, except for Little Penguin, are worried because they have heard horrible things about polar bears! Yikes! Little Penguin isn’t so sure that these stories are true, and is determined to find out for himself if polar bears are really so terrible. This funny story and great moral of don’t believe everything you hear makes it a great choice for reading to your little one.
4. The Three Snow Bears by Jan Brett–
In this arctic version of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, author Jan Brett creates a beautiful snowy story. Aloo-ki enters the polar bears’ igloo while they are out and then eats their soup, tries on their boots, and takes a nap in baby polar bear’s bed. Meanwhile, the polar bear family are rescuing Aloo-ki’s sled dogs. Preschoolers will love Jan Brett’s artwork and the cute bears.
5. The Snow Rocket by Derek Anderson–
Friends Romeo and Lou build a rocket out of snow that magically comes to life and flies them far away from home! They land in a city and mistake the new people, animals, and things that discover for more familiar home creatures: penguins, seals, walruses, and fish! The mistaken identities will make kids laugh as the two friends make their way through the city in search of a new rocket ship to take them home. When they are beginning to lose hope, Romeo and Lou board a cargo ship and make a rocket out of cardboard boxes and set off! Kids might just want to make a rocket of their own after reading this!
6. Polar Bear’s Underwear by Tupera Tupera–
Polar has lost his underwear! His friend mouse helps him search. They spot lots of underwear, but none of them are Polar Bear’s. This book features fun cut outs that show a glimpse of the undies featured in the next page. Preschoolers will enjoy guessing whether these are Polar Bear’s or not. Just when Mouse and Polar Bear are about to give up, Polar Bear remembers that he’s wearing white underwear! It’s camouflaged in his fur— silly bear!
7. Polar Bear Babies by Susan Ring —
Learn about the survival skills baby polar bears need for life in the harsh arctic in this short book. The babies need to learn to swim, catch fish, and run around the snow. The cute images of the baby bears greatly appealed to my son.
8. Forever by Emma Dodd–
While this story is more of an ode to mother’s love for her child, it does feature polar bears. The rhyming text and the cute pictures of polar bears were enough to make my child happy. I loved the sweet message that a parent’s love is forever and will always be there.
Disclaimer:
I hope you enjoy these books about polar bears! My son really liked all of these books. I joined Amazon’s Affiliate program to try and help cover the costs of this site. If you buy something through one of my links on Amazon, then I get a small percentage of the sale (no extra cost to you). Thank you for your support! Happy reading 🙂