Review: Waluk

Waluk by Emilio Ruiz
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Read again for my 365 Kids Book challenge. You can see all the books on their own shelf.

The science of global warming is spot on and the polar bear behavior and biology, and the bears are engaging. On the minus side, I'm not sure where it was supposed to be set (although maybe that doesn't matter*), and there isn't a single female character identifiable in the whole thing. Well, there's reference to Waluk's mother, but she's never shown. Maybe I should start giving all books the Bechdel test and failing where appropriate.

*The names of the bears and the legend seem to be rooted in a specific tradition, possibly even a specific language, but we're never told what that might be. I realize that humans are the antagonists, but if the names aren't just made up there should at least be an end note telling us where they came from, and how to pronounce them.

Library copy.

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