The Last Polar Bears

Rating:
Summary: Tries to be whimsical but just silly
Review: This story is about the voyage of the narrator and his dog Roo to the Arctic to track down the 'the last polar bears'. While the illustrations do have some charm, they are outweighed by irritations such as the presence of penguins en route to the North Pole (coyly but unsatisfactorily justified in an author's note at the start of the book). There can be a fine line between whimsical and silly, and this story is often pointlessly silly. The ship's captain gives Roo a tin of macaroni cheese. Later on, the explorers are caught in a blizzard and all their equipment is blown away; Roo then 'brought out the tin of macaroni' (from where?) which they then manage to open, heat up and eat (with what?). The subplot about the last of the world's ice cream is equally silly and pointless, as is the author's anthropomorphising of Roo ("I wish she wouldn't waste her money").
However, I will have to admit that my five-year old likes the story! There's no accounting for taste.