Predators and waning ice threaten the lives of a polar bear and her two cubs in a substantial informational picture book that spans the first year of the cubs’ lives. In April, Mother emerges from her den thin and hungry; instinct tells her to return “home” to the ice. Moving at the cubs’ pace, fending off wolves along the way, the bears arrive at the bay after six days and soon hunt a meal of ringed seal. Spring is a busy time: The cubs watch and imitate as Mother hunts. If she fails to put on enough fat now, she and the cubs will have little chance of surviving the summer. But the warm temperatures and melting ice make her job difficult; once, the three are stranded on an ice cap and only just make it back to land. In the summer, Mother’s fat and milk keep her and her cubs alive as they wait for the return of the ice and their food source. “But it is taking so long. Too long.” While climate change is not explicitly mentioned, the life-and-death tension of the narrative effectively underscores the importance of ice to polar bears’ survival as they navigate an ever-more-unpredictable landscape. Striking oil-paint illustrations add to the drama.   (Ages 5-8)