Review by New York Times Review
Part of a stylish new illustrated series devoted to the daily lives of young animals, this snapshot of an Adélie penguin chick shows her as adorable - and also a brave adventurer. It's the day she first leaves her parents and journeys out to sea, swimming like a champ as she navigates Antarctic waters filled with predators and prey. Bailey covers the basics in a tone that's informative but delighted by the improbabilities of penguins. Her friendly, big-eyed creatures look as if they're having a blast. SHH! BEARS SLEEPING By David Martin. Illustrated by Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher. 48 pp, Viking, $16,99. (Picture book; ages 3 to 7) There's a misconception out there that this book wants to clear up: Bears don't actually hibernate, they go into "a special kind of really deep sleep." That's good to know! The youngest bearlovers will appreciate Martin's simple rhyming lines, accompanied by attractive pastel scenes of bear life. We move through three seasons with an American black bear mother and her two cubs, arriving at a correctly described wintertime, with "no sound/not a peep/from bears/deep asleep." NANUK THE ICE BEAR Written and illustrated by Jeanette Winter. 48 pp. Beach Lane, $17.99, (Picture book; ages 4 to 8) The story of Nanuk, a polar bear, begins with a capsule of her year, then sounds a gentle alarm about global warming. Snow falls and freezes into glaciers. Nanuk hunts in the icy water. She meets her mate, digs a den, gives birth to cubs who go out once the light returns. Then change comes: "The ice is melting. The sea is rising." Trapped, Nanuk dreams of her once snowy home. But with Winter's serene blue and violet illustrations, each filling a small, lovely square, the mood stays hopeful, not dire. ARCTIC WHITE By Danna Smith. Illustrated by Lee White. 32 pp. Holt. $17.99, (Picture book; ages 4 to 8) Life in winter is shades of white in Smith's sweet tale of the frozen north. A girl who lives in an igloo with her grandfather and their husky dog wonders, "Where did all the color go?" One night, there's an expedition to see a "secret": the northern lights, which fill the sky with wonderment. Back home they paint what they saw in bright tones. White's lively, detailed illustrations capture a vastness and mystery, incorporating bursts of red and green seamlessly into a dusky gray world. PENGUIN'S WAY By Johanna Johnston. Illustrated by Leonard Weisgard. 48 pp. Bodleian, $16,95. (Picture book; ages 4 to 8) The illustrations alone warrant this handsome new edition of Johnston and Weisgard's satisfying deep dive into the world of emperor penguins, first published in 1962. Weisgard's dappled print technique wonderfully evokes a snowy Antarctic clime, and his penguins are, true to their name, majestic. Johnston, too, found nobility in the crazy-seeming passing back and forth of eggs between parents and the "miracle" of yearlings who come back home wearing a new, golden patch of feathers. ONLINE An expanded visual presentation of this week's column at nytimes.com/books.
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [February 7, 2016]
Review by Booklist Review
One winter in the Arctic, a girl accompanies her grandfather through the snowy landscape. The dim, gray light leaves their surroundings colorless and drab. Every day, she longs for color, until, one night, she and her grandfather join their neighbors in trudging across the tundra. Atop a snowy mountain, they sit and watch the glowing, pulsing, colorful northern lights. After the lights fade, he carries her home. Inside their igloo, she paints the colors she has seen, flares of hope that brighten the Arctic winter. With sentences such as, When you live in the Arctic in winter, everything is a shade of white, the second-person text draws children into a setting that is, for most, unfamiliar terrain. Created with digitally enhanced watercolors and ink, the illustrations are inviting. In the two double-page aurora borealis scenes, sudden swirls of colors contrast vividly with the whites, grays, and pale hues on the preceding pages. This picture book is a quiet, appealing read-aloud choice for winter storytimes and classroom units on the Arctic.--Phelan, Carolyn Copyright 2015 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Smith (Mother Goose's Pajama Party) follows a child and grandfather of unspecified indigenous background on an ice-fishing excursion in the Arctic, where "everything is a shade of white." As they travel the tundra, the girl wishes for more color, a wish later granted by the appearance of the Northern Lights. Bundled up in parkas, the girl and her grandfather embark on a nighttime journey over the snow "past the icy sea and sleeping seals. Even footprints are white in the Arctic." Working in watercolor and ink, White (The Maine Coon's Haiku) infuses the frozen world with a sense of community, but despite some tender images between girl and grandfather, the overall vagueness and superficiality regarding their heritage strikes an off note. Ages 4-8. Author's agent: Ronnie Ann Herman, Herman Agency. Illustrator's agent: Paul Rodeen, Rodeen Literary Management. (Jan.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 2-A girl trudges across the cold and seemingly colorless Arctic tundra with her grandfather, observing that in winter, everything is a shade of white: the blue-white of the tundra, the yellow-white of the polar bear, and the silver-white of the arctic fox. She wonders where all the color went. "Did the wind blow it away?" Ultimately, after much patience and a mysterious walk with others in their community, her secretive grandfather leads them to the swirling colors of the northern lights, which joyously "dance across the sky." While White's intricate watercolor and ink illustrations are impressive and Smith's poetic imagery thought-provoking (e.g., "Grandfather says hope is golden. You can only see it when you look into a snowy owl's eyes."), readers are never informed where the story takes place, nor the culture of the main characters. A younger audience may also find it confusing comprehending what it means to be a shade of white, particularly the reference to the faint and remote picture of the yellow-white polar bear. The last few pages of the swirling, glowing, swooping northern lights are impressive enough to inspire readers to see this natural phenomenon for themselves (if not through travel, then via a YouTube video). Still, a better read on the topic is Mindy Dwyer's Aurora: A Tale of the Northern Lights (Alaska Northwest, 1997), which includes some background information on this rare and fascinating subject. VERDICT A picturesque book that would be better appreciated with more clarity about its setting and culture.-Etta Anton, Yeshiva of Central Queens, NY © Copyright 2015. 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 Kirkus Book Review
The Arctic winter is white and gray until something special happens. "When you live in the Arctic in winter," opens the second-person narration, "everything is a shade of white." "You" are a young girl, longing for color. White hues are describedblue-white tundra, the yellow-white of the polar bear, the silver-white of the arctic foxand outsize, delicate snowflakes drift down. One night, "you hear a hum in the air," and grandfather takes you walking on the tundra to see the northern lights, lush color swaths across the sky. Illustrator White uses watercolor on textured paper to give the snow's surface a gentle nubbiness and depth. Ink delicately outlines human and animal figures. However, setting and culture are unclear. A modern paint box, a bound book, and a flashlight, together with the second-person, present-tense address (placing readers inside the story), imply a contemporary setting, but this girl lives a nonindustrialized life in an iglu, even though most contemporary indigenous Arctic people live in houses. The lack of any specific indigenous nation and some faux Native philosophy"Grandfather says hope is golden. You can only see it when you look into a snowy owl's eyes"add to the romanticized Native image. Jan Bourdeau Waboose's SkySisters (2000), an Ojibwe story about walking across tundra to see the northern lights, is a better choice. Despite lovely art, a stereotypically generic and romanticized portrayal of indigenous people. (Picture book. 3-7) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
