This book was outside my usual wheelhouse, but I picked it up because it is a topic that I knew was near and dear to my 11 year old daughter's heart. In her short life span we have worked to save the Blob Fish and the turtles. She is a strong advocate for the environment and wants to save all of the animals. I selected this book to read because I knew it would give us something to talk about. I was not disappointed. This book was very well written and it shares a deeply moving story of Nora, who is the center of the book. It tells of her abandonment and how the team at the Columbus Zoo worked to care for her, but it also intertwined information about how polar bears in the Arctic are struggling, that their homes are literally dissolving. It is a wakeup call to everyone that something needs to be done for the environment now. It is not something that can be pushed off for another day. The author makes you care deeply for Nora and by presenting the environmental impact to polar bears like Nora she is able to make the reader better understand that this not something that will go away. I would highly recommend this book to casual readers who are interested in learning more about the environment. It is a deeply touching story.

If the cover doesn't pull you in immediately then the story will. This is the story of Nora a polar bear cub abandoned by her mother after only 6 days.. Nora was born at the Columbus Zoo an the book follows her trials and travels from zoo to zoo to find her a compatible companion. The book follows her growth and problems from the abandonment. Besides being heartbreaking at times, the book is hopeful. A parallel story running through the book is. the exploration of climate change and the climate crisis. The book also explores the fragile relationship between the natural world and humans. We have a lot to learn from Nora and all those who worked so hard to save her. Be sure to check out videos of Nora on You Tube..

I thought this was an emotional and important nature book about climate change and the effect it is having on some of the most vulnerable animals, the polar bears. I like how the book goes back in time an recounts came to be and how long they have been on the planet. It was emotional AF because this story centers around Nora who was born at a zoo in Cleveland, and was abandoned by her mother Aurora, who is also a polar bear raised in captivity. The zookeepers were forced tp intervene between mom and baby in order to save the baby cub.

I thought this was well written and someone who has entered the veterinary medical field, I like this had a happy ending even though globally polar bears in are in major trouble. I hope when I become a licensed veterinary technician and get experience in the field, I can be part of conservation work.

Highly recommended and it is not all sad.

Thanks to Netgalley, Kale Williams and Crown Publishing for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Available: 3/23/21

This is a good book. So is this one. And this one is good too, or at least important. Putting them all together and calling it one book, however, didn’t work completely smoothly for me.

There is the story of a specific polar bear cub with physical and mental health issues, the three zoos she has lived at so far, and the issues related to animals being kept captive.

There are the general scientific and political histories of climate change during the past few decades.

There are the specific ecological and social effects of that changing climate upon the Arctic area.

I’m probably biased by having once been a docent at a zoo where a polar bear played catch with another docent using a large plastic ball, but for me the zoo angle would have been the most interesting subject to explore further.

I imagine the hope here is that people drawn to the story of an abandoned bear cub will be open to learning more about climate change in a less politicized setting. I fear many people are going to be annoyed by the constant cutting away from the specific story which is presumably their main reason for reading the book. And people who already know the basics of climate change are going to find pages of information they already know.

Thanks to Crown and NetGalley for an advance copy to review.