Review - You're Snug with Me

You're Snug with Me
by Chitra Soundar
illustrated by Poonam Mistry
Date: 2018
Publisher: Lantana
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 32
Format: e-book
Source: library

At the start of winter, two bear cubs are born, deep in their den in the frozen north. "Mama, what lies beyond here?" they ask. "Above us is a land of ice and snow." "What lies beyond the ice and snow?" they ask. "The ocean, full of ice from long ago." And as they learn the secrets of the earth and their place in it, Mama Bear whispers, "You're snug with me."

(synopsis from Goodreads)

I'm not quite sure what to make of this one. On the one hand, it's really interesting to look at and has a decent overall message. On the other, the message doesn't always make a lot of sense in context, and the illustrations don't exactly represent the cultural subject matter.

This is a story about a mother polar bear and her two cubs. While they're safe in their den over the winter, the cubs ask their mother questions about the outside world, and the mother tells them all about what they'll find when they finally emerge from their den. Sometimes, her words scare the cubs, so she continually reassures them with, "You're snug with me."

I don't have a problem with the basic premise of the story, or with the overarching message. I just found it a little weird to be putting environmental messages in the mother bear's mouth. She tells the cubs the ice will be there as long as they "take care of it". Which, of course, brings up the question of how a polar bear is supposed to "take care" of the ice. If you're going to write a book with an environmental message, it needs to explain who the real culprit is, and not just pass the responsibility on to animals who have no control over the situation.

As for the illustrations... well, they're kind of beautiful, but at first I thought they were done in a style of some Arctic peoples. They're not. The author and illustrator are both of Indian descent, and their previous collaboration--in the same style--was set in India. Make of that what you will. (I was a little disappointed when I realized that the illustrations were not in an actual Arctic style. I don't necessarily think this is cultural appropriation, but I wonder why, if the author wanted to tell a story about the perils of melting ice, she couldn't have written a story about melting glaciers in the Himalayas or something. Then the style of artwork would've at least been geographically appropriate.)

So, this wasn't terrible, but readers should be aware that they're not necessarily going to be getting artwork representative of the area where the story is set. I'm also not sure that passing responsibility for melting sea ice on to the polar bears is the best message.

Premise: 3/5
Meter: n/a
Writing: 3/5
Illustrations: 3/5
Originality: 3/5

Enjoyment: 3/5

Overall: 3 out of 5