Reviews (2)

Balto: not just for kids
We purchased this book after seeing the real Balto (courtesy of the art of taxidermy) at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. Our quest in Northeast Ohio, where Balto enjoyed his senior years, was prompted by my seven year-old daughter's love-affair with the animated film about this dog, who navigated a lost sled team carrying life-saving medicine through Alaska in 1925. I hereby confess publicly that, after myself reading the book, which is aimed at the 9 year-old set, I cried, much as I had done 35 years before after reading "Lassie Come Home." This account, however, is much more compelling than "Lassie" or "Old Yeller," because it entirely factual (possibly excepting the subjective thoughts imputed to the protagonist).

The author did her homework researching this story about a sled dog who was just one of the pack facing poor odds against daunting weather and unrequiting expanses of blinding snow and ice. When the alpha dog loses the trail, and another refuses to lead, the team turns to Balto to bring them and their cargo safely to rest in Nome.

Perhaps Balto deserves an authentic, grown-up biography, but this one will serve in the meantime. It appears to be the definitive account.

A teacher in PA
This is an excellent book if you are interested in the Iditarod race in Alaska.The book helps young children understand the importance of perserverence and is a great introduction to history for the very young (6-8).A true story that inspires people to understand the bond between animals and people. ... Read more

Book Description

Exploring the Polar Regions describes the perils of Arctic and Antarctic travel, and the courage of the explorers who first mapped these frozen wastelands. It tells of the quest for the fabled Northwest and Northeast Passages through icy Arctic seas, of Peary's conquest of the North Pole, Shackleton's epic journey and the race for the South Pole. You will learn why these explorers set out, hazards they encountered along the way, what they discovered in the farthest reaches of the Earth, and more. Clear maps and superb reconstructions bring these journeys vividly to life. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Imagine if you were given a grant by the National Science Foundation tospend four months in Antarctica to sketch, take pictures, and write home tofriends and family. Antarctic Journal is the record of Jennifer OwingsDewey's trek to the bottom of the world: "a planet as remote as the moon in itsown way," she writes. Antarctica, home to 100 million penguins, has ice up tothree miles thick, covering 98 percent of the land. The author writes heraccount of this icy-cold adventure at Palmer Station in an accessible journal,sprinkled with letters home and colored-pencil sketches and photographs ofvarious landscapes and Arctic creatures. Discussions of penguin behavior areinterrupted by the history of Gondwanaland and continental drift, while snippetsabout trying to cook krill (the tiny phytoplankton that blue whales eat) ingarlic and butter add a comic and personal touch to her adventure. Descriptionsof the "green flash" that happens just before sunset, red tide, and a mirageeffect called the "fata morgana" (named after the fairy Morgan who built castlesin the air) are sure to intrigue and inspire young explorers. This is acharming, personable introduction to a forbidding, fascinating continent. (Ages8 to 12) --Karin Snelson ... Read more

Reviews (1)

clever, well written, interesting
Jennifer Owings Dewey spent four months in Antarctic sketching and photographing wildlife, and writing this wonderful book about the “last great wilderness on earth.” The trip was made possible by a grant from the National Science Foundation. The book jacket claims that it is appropriate for age 7 and up… well perhaps for a precocious child. I think that ( ) has it right. Age 9 to 12 seems more appropriate.

Written as a cross between a diary and letters home, and interspersed with drawings, and photographs, this is a small, almost intimate book. I read the “Antarctic Journal” out loud to my 11 year-old daughter. We talked about each journal entry or letter home, and looked at all the pictures together. We were introduced to the Adelie penguins, nesting gentoos, blue whales, Weddell seals, and krill. We were given a little history lesson starting 200 million years ago with Gondwanaland, and many lessons in nature. Antarctic has only one year-round land-resident, a mite. It’s the size of a pinhead. Also, male and female penguins share parenting, and they are absolutely devoted parents. A “parent penguin suffering heat stroke will not abandon its nest. It will fall dead in a heap first.” Antarctica has its own etiquette. Human visitors to Antarctica are not allowed to touch any wildlife. However, penguins did check out the author, her clothes, and typewriter.

So many nature books are dry. This one is clever, well written, and interesting. It is a wonderful addition to our home library. I highly recommend it. ... Read more

Book Description

Imagine a land where the sun rises at 1:58 a.m. in the summer and shines for lessthan three hours on a winter's day! The animals in the wilderness near Fairbanks, Alaska, witness some of the world's greatest temperature extremes and light variations every year. At an average low of -12 degrees Fahrenheit, the winters may be unpleasantly frigid, but the light shows are always glorious.

Acclaimed author Debbie S. Miller details the sunsets, twilight, alpenglow, diamond dust, and other quietly beautiful phenomena that color "the land of the midnight sun," describing how the moose, caribou, grizzly bear, black wolf, and other Arctic animals survive and thrive in both the warm and cold seasons. The dramatic changes in light are captured perfectly in Jon Van Zyle's striking illustrations. ... Read more

Book Description

Discover the icy wastes of the polar regions and the remarkable plants and animals that survive in such hostile conditions.

Here is an exciting and informative guide to the vast, icy wastes at the ends of the earth. Superb color photographs of snowy mountains and frozen seas, rare animals and plants, and the teeming life on and under the ice offer a unique "eyewitness" view of our planet's polar wilderness. See a seal with a "trunk", a bear in a burrow, icebergs bigger than skyscrapers, 200-year-old snow goggles, and a pony's snowshoe. Learn about the northern and southern lights, the crushing power of ice, why Amundsen beat Scott to the South Pole, how penguins keep warm, and what reindeer eat. Discover why layers of clothing retain body heat, which birds are known as "pirates of the air", which mammals live farthest north, how long a walrus feeds on its mother's milk, whether lemmings commit mass suicide or not, and much, much more! ... Read more

Book Description

Detailed pencil drawings depict the building of an igloo, as well as the summer homes, forms of transport, and ways of life of Eskimo people. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

The Igloo
This book, in maximum detail, explained eskimo life and the basic forms of igloos. It is quite an orginal book, wiht no specific plot, but its a great to read. ... Read more

Book Description

World-class photographer and science writer Wayne Lynch takes us toone of his favorite parts of the world: the Arctic. Using a plant, an animal ora phenomenon for each letter of the alphabet, Lynch describes the unique ways inwhich systems for living differ where temperature and light can be amazinglyextreme. But Lynch also dispels the myth of the Arctic as a perpetually frozenlandscape by introducing us to the birds, mammals, insects and plant life thatthrive in the short yet glorious sun-filled days of summer.

Wayne Lynch is the author of award-winning books and television documentaries, apopular guest lecturer and a well-known wildlife photographer. He is also theauthor of "Bear, Bears, Bears," "Penguins!" and the adult books "A is forArctic" and "Loons," also published by Firefly Books. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Interested in the Arctic?
This is not your typical alphabet book. Each letter of the alphabet is represented by a natural phenomenon of the Arctic and has three or four paragraphs of text about that subject. The facts in the text are interesting. Did you know that the fastest moving glacier in the Arctic, located in Greenland, can move at a speed of up to two feet an hour? That beluga whales can sometimes lift the ice to get a quick breath of air before it dives again? That quivut is the soft, fine wool of the muskox? If you read this book, you'll find these and many other interesting facts. My third grade students make alphabet books and this is a wonderful example for them to pattern their writing after. The photographs that accompany the text are stunning also. The author, Dr. Wayne Lynch, has chosen unusual subjects for the book. This serves to expand the minds of the children who read or are read this book. For example, some new topics for my students include jaeger, kittiwake, lousewort, xanthoria, yellowcoat, and zooplankton. The author explains these topics in a way that children will understand. ... Read more

Book Description

Book Description

An emperor penguin lays an egg on the Antarctic ice. In the bitter cold, miles away from the only source of food, how can the chick survive?

Reviews (1)

Where Penguins come from
This is just a nice book to have for any child with questions about....What else Penguins! ... Read more

Book Description

A thought-provoking look at the state of our world, how our environment has been damaged and how it can be repaired.The "Life in the..." series looks at cities, deserts, islands, oceans, plains and more (in English and Spanish) - teaching kids ages 8-11 how to protect the environment.

The Parent Council proclaims that this is "An excellent series... Definitely a winner in any school library." ... Read more

Book Description

Home to the musk oxen, narwhal, polar bear, and raven, Greenland—the earth"s largest island—seems to hold the magic and mystery of the far north. What would it be like to visit there? To kayak along its remote shores, dogsled through its tundra, visit its tiny villages? With charming linoleum block prints, Kelly Dupre follows the long, difficult journey of two men. In simple words, she captures the tenacity and vitality of all that they see—and subtly reveals to children what can be learned from a place like Greenland. ... Read more