A young polar bear learns to accept his role of big brother to a new arrival in his family....In a departure from her signature watercolors, Dyer has created charming, needle-felted polar bears as the characters, photographed with tiny accessories in miniature rooms or snowy, outdoor settings. Fox’s spare text demonstrates her deep understanding of a youngster’s intense emotions, subtly showing Roly Poly’s growth from a self-centered toddler to a big brother who can take responsibility for a younger brother he has grown to love. A new classic for new big brothers and sisters.
Description
Roly Poly the polar bear gets a little brother he did not ask for, in this charming story about sibling rivalry and the bonds of family from the beloved picture book creators of Time for Bed, Mem Fox and Jane Dyer.
Roly Poly the polar bear loves being an only child. His bed is only his. The fish he catches are only his. And he doesn’t have to share his toy walrus tooth with anyone. But then along comes baby Monty. Roly Poly did not ask for a little brother and he certainly does not want one now! What is Roly Poly to do when Monty starts making him share his bed and fish and walrus tooth?
Reviews
In this sprightly offering from the team behind Time for Bed, Roly Poly the polar bear thinks life is “grand”—until the morning he learns that the wee bear sharing his bed is his new brother, Monty: “But I never asked for a baby brother, and I don’t want one now!”....Fox’s spare, wry text leaves readers ample room to embellish and personalize the story, while the mixed-media illustrations humorously portray the siblings’ interactions. Dyer fashioned the bears using needle felting, a process that involves poking raw wool with a barbed needle to alter the density of its fiber, and Birdsall (the Penderwicks series) helped Dyer stage the scenarios and then photographed them. The resulting, beguiling images have a 3-D quality and authentically capture the jumbled emotions that accompany the arrival of a sibling.