Solar Bear

This passionate plea by Ferry to speak up for wildlife is narrated in tense rhyme by the title’s “solar bear,” portrayed by Wenzel as a sleek white ursine being who glows from within. Telling “a tale that’s hard to hear.../ before we all just... disappear,” the narrator and fellow bears use their light to “shine on what is wrong,” revealing wild animals in tense encounters with humans over “ivory tusks./ And rhino’s horn./ On tiny turtles not yet born.” These creatures join the throng of displaced solar bears, soon greeting a child on a doorstep and explaining their plight (“We’ll show you that our paths are linked—/ as you expand, we go extinct”). In response to the text’s urgent messaging, myriad children, portrayed with varying skin tones, are soon seen cultivating gardens, and a quiet, rewilded landscape appears in this creature-voiced work that asks readers “for your mighty roar/ to show us we’re worth fighting for.” Resources and creators’ notes conclude. Ages 4–8. (Mar.)