Customer Reviews

Hello, Arctic!

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In the course of a few pages, this nonfiction picture book takes us through a year of activity in the Artic. We start in the barren unknowns of the Artic winter, where an artic fox looks at a distant moon, norther lights flicker, and the polar caps begin to melt. When Arctic summer comes, so do birds, plants, polar bears, seals, and whales. Then birds migrate, bears prepare to migrate -- winter has come comes once more.

The illustations by Margaret Chodos-Irvine are full, tender, and haunting. The words, while teaching a lot about Arctic ecology, are very simple, with a good deal of repetition. This is a lovely book. However, because of its simplicity, instead of the suggested 3-7 age range, I think it is more appropriate for 2-4 year old animal lovers.

"Arctic winter is cold, so cold. The northern lights flicker across the dark sky. But now Arctic summer is coming!" So begins Theodore Taylor's engaging and simple, non-fiction picture book. The Arctic is so much more than just freezing cold, snow, and ice. Watch the seasons change. Summer arrives as the ice partially melts, the birds return, tundra flowers bloom, and the animals breed and play as the sun shines twenty-four hours a day. But then the days begin to grow shorter. Winter is coming, and the birds and animals travel south. "Wind and snow have come again. Good-bye, Arctic summer! See you next year." Mr Taylor's gentle, spare text is poetic and filled with imagery and magic. But it's Margaret Chodos-Irvine's bold and bright, animal filled artwork that really tells the story and steals the show. Each evocative, two page spread is rich in dazzling layered colors, interesting geometric shapes, and clever patterns, and little ones will want to linger and explore each captivating picture. Hello, Arctic! is a preschool crowd pleaser, perfect for story time, or as part of a unit on seasons and/or the arctic. This is children's non-fiction at its very best. Kudos to Taylor and Chodos-Irvine!