I'm not sure of many things in life, but I'm pretty certain this would have been better in whatever language it was written in ... somehow I found a Russian version which I Google-Translated into English. But I got the gist.
The story itself: not tremendously exciting. The art: okay. I suppose we're supposed to sympathize with the exciting rush of freedom the bear felt, and be moved by their sacrifice at the end, but I didn't particularly feel anything at any point. Oh well.
(Note: I'm a writer, so I suffer when I offer fewer than five stars. But these aren't ratings of quality, they're a subjective account of how much I liked the book: 5* = an unalloyed pleasure from start to finish, 4* = really enjoyed it, 3* = readable but not thrilling, 2* = disappointing, and 1* = hated it.)