The great white bear Pompon stands in the museum, caught in one spot and position eternally. As a sculpture, he cannot move, and must maintain his spot, his sole pleasure derived from the admirers that come to see him. But Pompon longs to travel, and one day a little boy named Leo's attention (and touch) gives him wings, setting him free...

Inspired by François Pompon's famous polar bear statue - created between 1923 and 1933, Ours blanc stands in Paris's Musée d'Orsay - Pompon offers an engaging tale of a child interacting with a work of fine art in a museum, bringing the power of the imagination to bear on his experience. The artwork by illustrator Joanna Boillat uses the white spaces of Pompon's body in creative ways, creating straight and curving lines with which the more colorful Leo interacts. Originally published in German (according to WorldCat) as Ein Eisbär im Museum?: Pompon, this sweetly imaginative picture-book has also recently been published in France. Recommended to anyone looking for children's stories set in museums, or about young people interacting in an imaginative way with art. ( )