#16-The Three Snow Bears

The Three Snow Bears

Written and Illustrated by Jan Brett

G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2007

30 Pages

Traditional Literature

   This is an Arctic version of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. In this version, Aloo-Ki is fishing on a ice floe when her team of dogs floats away on a pice of ice. Meanwhile a family of polar bears is having breakfast but the little bear's breakfast is too hot so the family takes a walk while the food cools off. As Aloo-Ki tries to figure out a way to get to her dogs, she comes across a large igloo. She goes inside and tries the soup. Of course the first is too hot, the second is too cold and the third is just right. Then Aloo-Ki tries on the boots and finds that the smallest pair is just right. Finally she lays down in the smallest sleeping bag and takes a nap. Meanwhile the family of polar bears have spotted the team of dogs and saves them and pushes them back to safety. The family then returns to their igloo to find that their breakfast has been eaten, their boots have been messed with and the little bears are missing and have been replaced by some other boots! Then they find that their sleeping areas are messed up and the little bear finds Aloo-Ki asleep in her sleeping bag. Aloo-Ki wakes up and runs out the door to find her team of dogs. Aloo-Ki and her dogs ride back home while the bear family waves good-bye.

     Brett uses watercolor to create the beautiful illustrations in this book. The pictures in the book are all bordered. Also on the sides there are vignettes showing a side story. In the side story it shows the family of polar bears and their adventure while Aloo-Ki is in their igloo. The side story that Brett tells in the vignettes shows the bears rescuing the team of sled dogs. Brett does a great job of using these vignettes to tell two stories at once. It allows readers to not only follow Aloo-Ki's story but also the bears story while they are out of the igloo. As the bears get back to the igloo in the side story it builds suspense because now the reader knows they are coming back and the reader wonders what will happen. All of the illustrations in the book are beautiful. Brett uses a lot of whites, blues and other Arctic-like colors to help make the book feel like you are really in the Arctic.

     This book would be great to have students compare and contrast Goldilocks and the Three Bears with. Students could maybe even be encouraged to write their own version of the traditional story. It would also be a good book to use to talk about life in the Arctic. Students would see a lot of ways that living in the arctic is different from living somewhere warmer. This book could also be used to teach about the Inuits, Aleut, and Yupik tribes who live in the Arctic.