Bears of Ice: The Quest of the Cubs

I was having a bit of trouble deciding which book I would read for today but eventually came across, “Bears of the Ice: The Quest of the Cubs”. Now this one of my sister’s summer reading books but I can assure you she most likely did not read this properly, in the sense that she probably doesn’t remember anything. But when I saw the book I thought it was interesting and wanted to read it for myself. Which is how this is the book the I’m going to be talking about today. Just from the first 5 chapters that I read (not the prologue), I can see that this is relating to fiction and nonfiction. When I saw that I mean that you can technically classify myths or legends as “nonfiction” right? Because while this book talks about Polar Bears and some of the stuff that these animals do in real life, it also has some sort of “Native American” vibe to it. And when I saw that I mean the names of the “legends” that are spoken in this book sound like something out of a Native American culture. Besides that, everyone knows that polar bears and other relevant creatures can’t talk. Anyway, let’s begin!

So the story starts off from the point of view of Svenna. Who is the mother of her two cubs, she calls them “First” and “Second” because it’s “custom” that polar bears from her “tribe” cannot be named until their second season on the ice. In other tribes the cubs would have bene named in the first 3 months of their life. The reason behind them not being named until a second season on the ice is because most cubs die early on so it would feel worse if you named them, theoretically speaking. Svenna is worried for her cubs because she thinks they don’t know how to hunt and fend off for themselves. First is her eldest son and second is the younger daughter. They both enjoy themselves ignoring they’re mother’s words. Eventually, Svenna is able to take control and ask them to find a seal breathing hole. That way they can just bite a seal and drag it on the surface. Then, spin around slamming the seal onto the frozen ice, killing it faster and more humane (to them at least). 

However, as soon as the seal was brought up a male Polar Bear twice the size of Svenna name and stole it. Second tried her best to fight the stealer off but it just didn’t work. The man got away with the seal and second was crying. Her brother and Svenna were trying to calm her but she just couldn’t rest. How could that bear steal their steal! Svenna explained that they’re used to be a law system and bears that did stuff like that would be arrested. But that system as long been gone and the Antarctic is now an unlawful place. You can pretty much get away with more things. Then, Svenna explains to them that she is going to have to leave but she doesn’t tell them the real reason. Instead, the bear brings up an old legend and says that she will be be traveling to that site and then come back home. In the meantime they would be staying with one of their cousins. But, when Svenna left the cousin treated them like strangers and gave all the food to her cubs instead. That was when Second and First ran away while she was sleeping and found a nice fox named, “Lago”. Lago’s two kit’s (babies) were taken by snow owls and eaten. She found the two cubs in her den and decided to help them recover.