Lost

Most of us know how scary it feels to be lost; but to find yourself lost in a completely unknown concrete city knowing not how you came to be there, like the polar bear in this story, must be totally alarming. His efforts to ask for help result merely in a cup of takeaway coffee and a tube map, which leads him not to the North Pole but merely to an underground station where he boards a train.

Unexpectedly Bear hears a little voice greeting him in a friendly manner. He follows the small girl and her mum until they reach their home. There, seemingly unknown to her mother, the child welcomes the bear, clothes him, feeds him, gives him a bath and they share some stories. Then the homesick creature finds a book entitled The North Pole and as they look at it together the little girl realises that her new friend needs her help to get back home.

Soon she works out a plan: Bear is wrapped up and under the watchful eye of a bird, is air-lifted all the way back to his homeland. There he receives a joyful welcome from his bear family to whom he shows the special something that the little girl has given him.

With touches of gentle humour, the author/illustrator uses Bear’s voice (sometimes spoken, sometimes his thoughts) in combination with her striking art to convey the story about the power of friendship and the way it can help you to feel comforted, perhaps even found, in a seemingly alien place.

Ilustrajo makes effective use of contrast in her page layouts and colours – the cold greys of the city and the warm reds and oranges of the little girl’s home.

(Those familiar with the author’s first book Flooded will likely spot it in one of the scenes.)