Kern neatly skirts the I-love-you-more-than school of competitive affection by putting maternal love into properly absolute terms. Polo, a young polar bear, is told during his icy bath to be careful ""or you will worry your mother who loves you with all her heart."" The expression perplexes Polo: How can he be loved with all his mother's heart? He polls his friends about their mothers' love. The penguin's mother loves him with all her wings, the seal's with all her flippers, and so forth. When Polo returns to his mother, he snuggles against her and asks if she loves him with all her fur. Yes, she says, and proceeds to count the other ways--with her eyes that shine when she sees him, ""with my nose because you smell so sweet,"" with her paws and her back and her belly. Polo gets the message. The tender and richly colored illustrations outstrip the text, with Polo's friends hovering in the background during his quest, and the love practically rolling off the polar bears' fur. A sweet-tempered story.