Editor’s Note: Maine Bound is a column featuring new books that are either by Maine authors, set in the Pine Tree State or have other local ties.

THE SEAL ISLAND SEVEN, by Susan Bartlett, Viking Children’s Books, New York, N.Y., 2002, 70 pages, $15.99.

Creating fairy houses to help make their wishes come true has been a tradition for generations of Seal Island children. Now someone or something is destroying them. There are no prints to implicate a deer or a dog as culprit. But who would do something so mean? And how could this remain a secret on an island with only 56 residents?

These aren’t the only questions weighing heavily on the mind of Pru Stanley, fourth-grade hero of “The Seal Island Seven.” Her best friend, Nicholas, who has never kept a secret from her is suddenly acting mysterious and jumpy. And why has he taken to blushing around new girl, Clara?

In this lively book, Maine summer resident Susan Bartlett returns her readers to a close community connected to the mainland by ferry. Everyone knows everyone else. Having no electricity, the residents rely on gaslight. And seven students in five grades share one teacher.

But not all is tranquil. Some tensions familiar to Mainers have intruded. Can environmentalism be reconciled with the need to earn a living? Can year-round residents and summer visitors coexist peacefully?

POLAR BEARS, by Gail Gibbons, Holiday House, New York, N.Y., 2001, 32 pages, $16.95.

It is a mammal with partially webbed feet for swimming. Although it is born weighing scarcely more than 16 ounces, it grows up to tip the scales at 750 to 1,110 pounds. As an adult it can eat up to 150 pounds of food at one time. It is the biggest, strongest animal capable of surviving in the harsh cold climate of the Arctic. Scientists believe it has been around about 100,000 years. Yet it was in danger of extinction in the 1970s.

With her “Polar Bears” Maine summer resident Gail Gibbons has provided a wealth of information on the life cycle and survival strategies of this powerful, beautifully adapted predator. Her illustrations, done primarily in shades of blue and white, evoke the chill of an arctic climate. Don’t let this book’s deceptive slimness fool you into thinking it’s just for the kindergarten through second-grade set. Older students can use it as an inspiration for studying issues ripped from today’s headlines. How do global warming and human activity endanger the polar bears? How would other animals and native peoples of the North be effected by its demise?

I LOVE MUD, by Rick Charette, Pine Point Publishing, Windham, ME: 2002, 32 pages $8.99.

Forget robot pets and other high-tech gizmos pushed on the Saturday morning cartoons. When it comes to a child magnet, nothing beats good old-fashioned mud. Ask any parent who sees the wash load double in the months between snow and black fly seasons.

Back in 1985, Windham children’s songwriter and performer Rick Charette penned an ode, “I Love Mud,” to that marvelous substance. Today many of the youngsters who first danced and sang along to its irresistible beat are teaching the lyrics to their own sons and daughters. Fortunately, Charette’s words have been aptly paired with Heidi Stetson Mario’s illustrations to create a lively read-aloud. The expressions of horror on the faces of some parents are amusingly juxtaposed with the utter delight their children personify.

For students just starting on the path to literacy, bouncy, easy-to-memorize texts strengthen phonetic connection between sound and symbol and provide much satisfaction. “I can do it, Mom. Let me read it to you.”

If there’s a favorite kindergarten or first-grade teacher on your Christmas gift list, a copy of “I Love Mud” would be a very welcome addition to his or her class library.