A padded envelope arrived in the mail the other day, from my friend Bibi in Amsterdam, and opening it up I found her new book Soldier Bear.
Bibi writes children's books about animals. In Soldier Bear, her first book translated into English, she tells the true story of a bear cub that was adopted by a group of Polish soldiers stationed in Iran during World War II. Voytek, as they named him, traveled with the soldiers to Egypt, Italy and eventually Scotland.
The book is engagingly written, not just the sections on Voytek but those about the war: "Poor Poland! From that day on, the country as everyone knew it no longer existed. It was a divided country with a 'peace border' running right through its heart. That was what the Germans called the new border. It was a funny kind of peace, though."
There are numerous maps - of Poland, the Middle East, the Mediterranean - and charming illustrations. (One full-page drawing shows Voytek chasing a monkey up a palm tree.) And the story is so good that children reading it will not even be aware that they're learning history and geography as they go.
