THE POLAR BEAR EXPLORERS’ CLUB

released OUT NOW! 356 pages | Paperback/ebook

Author alex Bell Publisher Faber & Faber

Aimed at eight-to-twelveyear-olds, this could well be the most huggable book of the year. It’s ludicrously cute, filled with unicorns who eat iced gems, friendly polar bears and mini T-rexes who like to hold your hand. If that sounds too twee for your tastes, it’s also an entertainingly ripping yarn about a young girl, Stella, joining an expedition to the frozen wastes... much to the dismay of the fussy, stiff-upperlipped gentlemen who run the Polar Bear Explorers’ Club.

There’s social commentary aplenty, as the Victorian gentlemen (if, indeed, Queen Vic exists in this fantasy world) worry about their moustaches and head off to explore the wilds armed with combs and pocket mirrors. Meanwhile, Stella and her friends – who include a clearly autistic boy; even if the condition isn’t named, it’s lovely to see it depicted so well here – set off to find the coldest part of the Icelands while dodging everything from gigantic yetis to carnivorous cabbages.

With adorable illustrations by Tomislav Tomic and a joyful, witty tone that channels everything from Lemony Snicket to JK Rowling, The Polar Bear Explorers’ Club lets itself down a little with a slightly rushed ending. But that’s a trifle, really, when the rest of the book is so enchanting. An (iced) gem. Jayne Nelson