Review by Booklist Review
Ages 4^-8. With its endlessly rolling hills of ice, the arctic landscape appears bleak and forbidding. Indeed, Regan's paintings are so realistic her scenes seem as if they should be icy to the touch! With each turn of the page, another effectively camouflaged native inhabitant--fox, wolf, lynx, ptarmigan--emerges from the blue whiteness as Yolen's evocative verse identifies the variety of predators and prey that inhabit the arctic nights. Swimming beyond the frozen land are seals, whales, and walrus, and gyrfalcons police the frigid skies. This menagerie blossoms with the arctic flowers in spring as caribou, grizzly bears, and an assortment of birds return to the thawing land. This companion to Yolen and Regan's Welcome to the Green House (1993) and Welcome to the Sea of Sand (1996) is an irresistible invitation to the "ice house" that will enrich youth science collections. --Ellen Mandel
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 4The 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 (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
In this poetic narrative, Yolen turns her attention to the Arctic, describing the animals that prowl there during its long winter and the splash of life and color that emerges during its short summer. Despite their limited palette (wintry whites, grays, blacks, and dark blues), Regan's beautifully drafted illustrations do a remarkable job of creating and sustaining interest. From HORN BOOK Fall 1998, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
