Skating wild on an inland sea

Jean Pendziwol

Book - 2023

"Let's go! Experience the magic of skating on wild ice. Two children wake up to hear the lake singing, then the wind begins wailing ... or is it a wolf? They bundle up and venture out into the cold, carrying their skates. On the snow-covered shore, they spot tracks made by fox, deer, hare, mink, otter ... and the wolf! In the bay, the ice is thick and smooth. They lace up their skates, step onto the ice, stroking and gliding, and the great lake sings again. In her signature poetic style, Jean E. Pendziwol describes the exhilarating experience of skating on the wild ice of Lake Superior, including the haunting singing that occurs as the ice expands and contracts. Accompanied by Todd Stewart's breathtaking illustrations, this b...ook will make us all long to skate wild!"--

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Subjects
Genres
Picture books
Published
Toronto ; Berkeley : Groundwood Books 2023.
Language
English
Main Author
Jean Pendziwol (author)
Other Authors
Todd (Illustrator) Stewart (-)
Physical Description
1 volume (unpaged) : color illustrations ; 29 cm
Issued also in electronic format
ISBN
9781773067049
Contents unavailable.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Striking, light- and shadow-filled winter landscapes by Stewart accompany evocative prose poetry by Pendziwol in this engrossing picture book. Lake Superior--a "vast inland sea"--makes a cracking noise, "the song of water/ held captive by winter." Hoping to "sing with Superior, too," the book's young narrator and another child venture out to skate. Inside a small house seen in the blue of dawn, the children wonder at breakfast whether another sound they hear is "the wailing wind--or is it a wolf?" It's the wind, they decide, before bundling up. In silkscreen-like digital spreads, the light next turns lemony, casting long shadows on the snow, where the two find wolf-prints, though the narrating child senses the animal "is long gone." Lacing their skates, the two are soon on the ice, seen from above, then from below, in this adults-free vision of life lived in harmony with the wild. The children's skin tones mirror the hue of the pages' changing light. Ages 3--6. (Oct.)

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Horn Book Review

"Listen! / Lake Superior / sings a winter song." Getting all bundled up, two children set off early on a cold morning to go ice skating. Fog rises from mysterious Superior, and along the way they find wolf tracks, but the older sibling can tell that the tracks are old, a "story" written in the snow. Canadian author Pendziwol writes evocatively about the immense and imposing lake and the sounds the ice makes vibrating under the children's feet as they skate: "mysterious magical music / as old as the earth... / We join the song, / skating / on the wild ice / of a vast / inland sea." (She also makes sure to mention that the ice on the lake is very thick.) Illustrator Stewart uses a range of blues and greens, from the intense turquoise of the frozen lake to a chilly blue against the snowy whites. His technique of drawing digitally, editing in Photoshop, and adding textures with scanned screens gives the book a vibrant and often majestic feel, ending with a wolf looking straight at the reader. Susan Dove LempkeNovember/December 2023 p.65 (c) Copyright 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.