This picture book retells a traditional tale from the Inuit culture of the Canadian North and concerns an orphan boy who is abandoned by a hunting party far out on the sea ice. He is approached by a huge polar bear, who momentarily transforms himself into human form and tells the boy he has witnessed his mistreatment and offers to teach him the skills of self-reliance. So, adopted by a polar bear community, the boy grows towards manhood, learning techniques of hunting and using a harpoon until the time comes when the polar bear elder deems him ready to rejoin his old world. Eva Widermann's illustrations successfully conjure up the icy landscapes that form a dream-like back cloth to this story of magical transformations and interactions between human and animal worlds.