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A review by dragonbitebooks
Magic Tree House #12: Polar Bears Past Bedtime by Mary Pope Osborne
Review excerpted from a longer review on my blog, Dragon Bite Books.
My dislike for Jack is admittedly wrapped up in the appearance of people of color in these novels. It came to a head in the twelfth of these books when Jack, after disparaging the beliefs of an Inuit “seal hunter” (this man is only ever referred to as a seal hunter and never identified as Inuit), takes sacred masks from his home without permission. He later claims to have done so “accidentally,” but it seems a very willful act to “carefully put” the masks into his backpack. Later without being instructed in the way to respectfully do so, Jack and Annie (at Annie’s prompting) make up a prayer and dance to the Polar Bear Spirit whom they see in a mother polar bear who helps them escape from thin ice.
My dislike for Jack is admittedly wrapped up in the appearance of people of color in these novels. It came to a head in the twelfth of these books when Jack, after disparaging the beliefs of an Inuit “seal hunter” (this man is only ever referred to as a seal hunter and never identified as Inuit), takes sacred masks from his home without permission. He later claims to have done so “accidentally,” but it seems a very willful act to “carefully put” the masks into his backpack. Later without being instructed in the way to respectfully do so, Jack and Annie (at Annie’s prompting) make up a prayer and dance to the Polar Bear Spirit whom they see in a mother polar bear who helps them escape from thin ice.