Polar: the Titanic Bear by Daisy Corning Stone Spedden
Polar: the Titanic Bear
by Daisy Corning Stone Spedden
Awww. I earread & read a Titanic book last month. So when I came across this in the library during one of my volunteer shifts, I took it home to read. It's a story that a mother wrote for her son in the point of view of his stuffed bear. The bear was given to him as a Christmas gift and accompanied him on his travels with his parents. It kept him company when he almost died from the measles and it went with him on the Titanic. The boy kept it when escaping from the ship in Lifeboat 3 and it remained one of his favorite toys. This story was found in an attic trunk, passed down through generations. So it's a family story that now can be shared with the world.
Along with the story are gorgeous illustrations and photos of the Titanic and the actual people in the story. The boy's mother loved taking photos, so there is a lot of photographic evidence, including one photo of the boy on board the Titanic, spinning a top on deck. There's also info about the family. I teared up a few times, including once at the end when it explained that the boy died at age 9 in one of Maine's first ever car accidents. That was like a knife in the heart. No one knows what happened to Polar, his bear, after that, but his parents never had another child.
This story is sweet and lovely, appropriate for children because it describes the bad parts of life in a gentle way that children could understand. But it's also an amazing look at a lifestyle and a point of time that will never come again. The family in this story was so rich they never had to work and just traveled the world, seeing so many interesting things. I can't imagine what that might have been like. Through words, illustrations, and photos, the reader can experience this slice of life vividly.