Ice Walker

July 15, 2020
A bear's-eye view of a changing Arctic. Canadian writer and adventurer Raffan, whose haunts include the far north of his country, tells the story of climate change in the Arctic through the lens of the great polar bear, an apex predator that is a textbook example of evolution suited to the demands of the environment. The white bear descended from brown ones, white being favorable in "a vast landscape of ice and snow," and developed a metabolism that allowed it to flourish on a diet that is more fat than protein. "Our bear, then, is perfectly adapted to a life on the ice," writes the author, which poses a problem for the perhaps 25,000 polar bears now alive when the ice is so rapidly melting. His case study is a female named Nanu, who travels a wide ambit, finding male suitors at strategic times of the year. Though he has taken pains not to anthropomorphize unduly, Raffan writes that "giving the bears names, physical characteristics and personality traits...was my means of inviting you to engage with the story and to enter the Ice Walker world long enough to ponder what we are doing to the earth." What we are doing, by driving cars and flying in airplanes and other human pursuits, is making a world in which "bearness" may prove an ontological category that has little purpose. When polar bears disappear, some human cultures will, too. The native Arctic peoples of countries such as Russia, the U.S., and Norway are already forbidden to hunt them, as they traditionally have, while those of Canada must coordinate hunts with game officials. Readers will emerge with a solid understanding of the biology and ecology of bears, but also of how they intersect with human cultures--those that honor them and those that scarcely pay them any mind at all. A welcome, if saddening, look at a disappearing world and a keystone species that may disappear with it.

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Starred review from September 1, 2020
In a manner reminiscent of Joy Adamson's classic Born Free (1960), Raffan introduces the life of a female polar bear as she battles her way through climate change. In this cautionary tale, seven-year-old Nanuruk, or Nanu, lives in southwestern Hudson Bay amidst global warming that brings her ever closer to the Indigenous people that share her arctic wonderland. Without anthropomorphizing Nanu, Raffan educates and fascinates readers, lending an intimacy as we journey along with her. While Nanu hunts and gives birth to cubs, Raffan ties her story to that of Hudson Bay itself, emphasizing how humans' existence and future are interconnected with Nanu's. Raffan describes scenes in a beautiful, captivating, and, at times, heartbreaking fashion, pondering how human life affects the bears and, by extension, all of existence. Of the approximately 25,000 polar bears currently living, 6,000 reside in Hudson Bay. As the ice melts, they are forced to hunt and live closer to cities and villages, and the difficulty in bringing live cubs into the world becomes even more of a hardship. Readers will also gain a detailed understanding of polar bear behavior, diet, hunting, mating, and evolution. Fans of John Vaillant's The Golden Spruce (2005) will be equally enthralled by this.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)

October 1, 2020

Canadian adventurer Raffan (Circling the Midnight Sun) portrays the lives of a family of Hudson Bay polar bears by following the family, Nanu and her two cubs Siu and King, over a two-year period, from the cubs' birth to their independence. Raffan skillfully weaves information about polar bear biology, their adaptations to their harsh, unforgiving world; mating, birthing, and hunting behaviors; and details of the cubs' development into a fascinating narrative as readers follow the family from their birthing den to the sea ice while they find food and avoid danger as the cubs grow and learn how to survive. With their distinct personalities, the bears and their relationships come alive. The author vividly describes the arctic setting and also illuminates the dangers to the bears from pollution and global warming and shows how polar bears are interconnected with the animals and people of the north. Maps of the median ice edge help put the Arctic Circle in context, and show the threat of disappearing ice and the climate warms. An annotated bibliography and a glossary round out the work. VERDICT Narrative nonfiction that offers a compelling, interesting, informative look at polar bears and their lives.--Sue O'Brien, Downers Grove, IL

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