From School Library Journal
PreSchool-Grade 4: The spareness of the arctic landscape lends itself to a picture book elegant in painting and poem. Yolen's confident hand with verbal rhythms has never been more evident. The author moves naturally from rhyming couplets to internal rhymes, letting the changing beats of the lines evoke "A ton of unpredictable moose on the loose" or "Lynx, now quick, now slow, now silent as snow." The unforced musical language is a pleasure to read aloud. Regan's double-page paintings use an icy palette of blues and whites to create a sense of chilly beauty and mystery. As the seasons change, the artist allows color to creep in gradually until summer on the tundra bursts forth in a riot of yellow poppies and blue lupines. As the warmth fades, the colors freeze up again, lit by the northern lights. Flora and fauna are rendered with meticulous accuracy, with the arctic tern and the arctic loon distinctly different from their relatives. Like Welcome to the Green House (1993) and Welcome to the Sea of Sand (1996, both Putnam), this book can fill a variety of niches. The friendly language and stunning art will pull in preschoolers and introduce them to environmental wonders. It would be an excellent introduction to an ecology unit for elementary grades. There is even a brief information essay on the back page, an address for further information, and an Alaska Web site. It will be a cold heart that is able to resist this beauty.Sally Margolis, Barton Public Library, VT
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
PreSchool-Grade 4: The spareness of the arctic landscape lends itself to a picture book elegant in painting and poem. Yolen's confident hand with verbal rhythms has never been more evident. The author moves naturally from rhyming couplets to internal rhymes, letting the changing beats of the lines evoke "A ton of unpredictable moose on the loose" or "Lynx, now quick, now slow, now silent as snow." The unforced musical language is a pleasure to read aloud. Regan's double-page paintings use an icy palette of blues and whites to create a sense of chilly beauty and mystery. As the seasons change, the artist allows color to creep in gradually until summer on the tundra bursts forth in a riot of yellow poppies and blue lupines. As the warmth fades, the colors freeze up again, lit by the northern lights. Flora and fauna are rendered with meticulous accuracy, with the arctic tern and the arctic loon distinctly different from their relatives. Like Welcome to the Green House (1993) and Welcome to the Sea of Sand (1996, both Putnam), this book can fill a variety of niches. The friendly language and stunning art will pull in preschoolers and introduce them to environmental wonders. It would be an excellent introduction to an ecology unit for elementary grades. There is even a brief information essay on the back page, an address for further information, and an Alaska Web site. It will be a cold heart that is able to resist this beauty.Sally Margolis, Barton Public Library, VT
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
