Hey ForeverBookers,
I’ve finished yet another book! I know, look at me go… anyway, the book was “The Polar Bear Explorers’ Club” by Alex Bell. It’s a middle grade so I wasn’t sure if I’d like it but I’m happy to report that I really enjoyed it. It was very funny and entertaining, something that I needed after reading some of the books I’ve read this year.
5 Stars!
“The Polar Bear Explorers’ Club” details Stella Snowflake Pearl’s adventure on her first Polar Bear Explorer’s Club mission, if you like. On these missions, the Explorers need to make discoveries and undergo trials to become Polar Bear Explorers. At least that’s what the junior Explorers accomplish. I’m not sure what the adults get out of it as the story focuses on four of the junior explorers.
The main setting for “The Polar Bear Explorers’ Club” is the Icelands, a diabolical and sometimes dangerous landscape. On her first polar adventure Stella tries to live up to the boys she’s put with. Ethan is very annoying but very funny too. Beanie is the smart/intellectual if a little timid one of the group, who has his beloved wooden narwhal called Aubrey. But he’s also very genuine with his intelligence. He doesn’t want to ever cause a ruckus. He’s not up himself at all. Then there’s Shay, who’s a wolf whisperer. This gets explained in the book but it’s basically when someone has a shadow partner in crime. Shay’s is a wolf called Koa. Ethan is also from the Ocean Squid Explorers’ Club, rather than the Polar Bear Explorer’s Club like the other three. This makes Ethan act like he’s better than everyone else, at first. Can the four Explorers get on or does the havoc they create put them too at odds with each other? You’ll have to read to find out!
I read this for a couple of readathons:
RR: Motorcycle Club - Read a book with a club or organized group of some sort - The book is literally called “The Polar Bear Explorers’ Club,” so that’s the club/group I was going for.
Always Fully Booked Reading Challenge - A book you heard about through social media - Jadeyraereads, a booktuber that I still watch read this YEARS ago and loved it so I wanted to try it. Booktube is the social media platform I used find “The Polar Bear Explorers’ Club.”
Spoilers Below…
“It’s not fair that girls can’t be explorers!” Stella said. “It’s stupid and it doesn’t make sense!”
The injustice of it made her whole body tremble.”
Stella, as a girl isn’t allowed in any Explorer Club at first. She’s angry about this fact! This plays into the story because she comrades with three boys, who for all intents and purposes need her in the end to save them. How? I’ll let you read for yourself but it’s good!
All Stella wants is to go on a adventure like her foster father, Felix. Felix found Stella in the snow as a young child and brought her home. She knows she’s not his real daughter but she’s fine with him looking after her.
We really don’t get much preamble in “The Polar Bear Explorers’ Club,” which I appreciated. I think if this had been an adult novel or even a YA novel there would have been more information supplied to the reader. I liked how this particular book just got into the story quickly.
Stella lives with Felix but has her Aunt Agatha come to visit too. At the beginning of the story it’s Stella’s birthday tomorrow. She isn’t excited because she thinks she’ll have to stay home with her Aunt Agatha, who comes across as a real bore that wants Stella to start attending a posh school. When Stella however learns that she CAN go on the Polar Adventure with her guardian, Felix, she’s over the moon. By chapter three we’re already at the headquarters of the Polar Bear Explorers’ Club. I expected more lead up to this, but as I wrote above I’m glad there wasn’t. I liked how sharp and on point the story was. There was no fluff. I like fluff in my romances but otherwise it gets tedious to read.
At the headquarters Stella meets the three boys she spends the rest of the story with, Shay, Beanie and Ethan. These three characters all had certain quirks that made them original. Shay, the wolf whisperer, is like the protective older brother, Beanie is the intellectual/smart one, and Ethan is the funny without trying to be one of the three. No one likes Ethan to begin with. Does he get better? You’ll have to read for yourself. I loved Ethan. He was so funny! I was always looking forward to his one liners the most.
“Ethan looked at Felix‘s stretch outstretched hand with an expression of distaste, and Stella decided — right then and there – if Ethan didn’t shake Felix’s hand within the next five seconds, she was going to bop him on the nose. Really really hard. Fortunately for Ethan, he eventually took Felix’s hand and said, “Ethan Edward Rook.”
Ethan is introducing himself to Felix above. Stella and Ethan had an uneasy relationship for most of The Polar Bear Explorers’ Club, but this made the book very funny to read. I loved their banter the most.
“I don’t want a unicorn plaster!” he said indignantly. “Unicorns are for girls.”
“What do you want then?” Beanie replied. “I’ve got polar bears, penguins, yaks and—“
“I want a penguin one.”
When Edward gets bitten by a carnivorous cabbage plant, yes, you did just read that, his biggest concern is what plaster he’s going to get. Beanie, the doctor like character stars to give Ethan a unicorn plaster. When Ethan is outraged by this saying they’re for girls, Beanie gives him options. He takes the penguin one. I laughed when I read this. I just found Ethan funny throughout. He was definitely the character I loved the most!
There is a serious side to “The Polar Bear Explorers’ Club.” Near the end of the story, Stella and the boys discover a castle. Stella feels somewhat drawn to it. “She suddenly had the strongest feeling that she was supposed to go to the castle. Something about those thin, white spires, pointing up into the air like fingers, was strangely familiar to her, as if she has seen the place before, a very long time ago. Felix had found her in the Iceland, after all. Perhaps she had been here before.
There was no greater thrill to an explorer than to be the first to do something incredible, and they were all extremely excited as they piled out of the sled and staked their flag in the snow. It had frozen solid so it didn’t flutter and flap so much as swing stiffly back and forth, but it was still a flag and it was still the first, so everyone felt pretty happy about it.
“They’ll have to let you stay in the Polar Bear Explorers’ Club now won’t they?” Beanie said to Stella. “Now that you’re one of the first explorers to reach the coldest part of the Icelands!”
This particular finding is huge in terms of their job in the Icelands, to make unique discoveries. Beanie is really excited for Stella because she’s “one of the first explorers to reach the coldest part of the icelands!” He wants her to stay in the club. Beanie becomes a good friend to Stella. Shay is a rather quiet character throughout “The Polar Bear Explorers’ Club.” I wonder if he’ll have more of a role in the next book. I can see a romance forming between Stella and Shay, an age appropriate one, as this is a middle grade novel.
The more serious side to the story is Stella discovering just WHO she is. As I said above, Stella is an orphan. She doesn’t know where she came from. It’s revealed that she is an ice princess! Her parents were apparently horrible according to a magical mirror within the castle. Can this magic mirror be trusted? Or is it telling lies? Why would it be telling lies? I hope we’ll get more answers in the next books but this left me very intrigued. Does Stella need saving at the end of the book? I’ll let you read for yourself.
In this more serious side to “The Polar Bear Explorers’ Club,” there’s a mystery that Stella needs to solve. Just WHO is she? We know she’s a princess, according to the magic mirror anyway, but is there anything else? Maybe she was imprisoned by the evil King and Queen and forced to be their daughter. I don’t know. She makes a discovery of a witches puppet. Is this evil or good? Her parents were evil, according to the Magic Mirror as I said above and the magic mirror itself wasn’t very nice. None of her comrades know about this magical puppet, but the last lines of the book detail the witch’s puppet crawling out of her bag. |’m excited to read about this character in the next book.
Overall then, I really enjoyed the book. It was a great! It was a quick and easy read that I flew through. I recommend it if you want an easy adventure with humour and heartfelt moments throughout. That’s why I’m giving “The Polar Bear Explorers’ Club” 5 Stars! I’m going to reread a book I read years ago, “Command Me” by Geneva Lee, another contemporary romance next, so I won’t review it, and maybe a manga after that, which you know I don’t review on my blog. Speak to you guys after that.
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