My Arctic 1,2,3 - Softcover

Michael Arvaarluk Kusugak is the author of several books for children, including the collaboration with Robert Munsch A Promise is a Promise and the award-winning Northern Lights. He lives in Rankin Inlet in northern Canada, where he writes full time.

Vladyana Krykorka is a celebrated illustrator of more than 30 books for children. Born and raised in Prague, she now lives in Toronto, Ontario.

Kindergarten-Grade 3. An Inuit storyteller and a Czechoslovakian artist share their knowledge and love of the Arctic by combining numbers, presented in both English and Inuktitut; visual representations of the numerals 1 through 10, 20, 100, and 1,000,000; and simple descriptions of Arctic animals. Attractive, vibrant watercolor artwork appears on every page. The various tones and shades of white, blue, green, brown, and yellow expertly capture the color and feel of the land and sea in different seasons. The realistically rendered, yet slightly whimsically portrayed animals display motion and purpose. A bordered black-and-white block-print number is superimposed in the top center of each illustration. The narrative connects the hunting activity of one animal to another. For example, one polar bear hunts two seals, five foxes hunt six siksiks, etc. Fishermen catching Arctic char and a family picking berries exemplify the human component in the Arctic food chain. The visual details more than adequately compensate for the lack of textual description. Emerging readers will appreciate the easy-to-read, large print. A wealth of interesting information about the author, his family, and Arctic animals is included in a four-page endnote. Numerous Inuit words, each followed by a pronunciation key, are included and a six-word glossary is appended. Number books abound, but Arctic 1,2,3 offers a unique addition for libraries, particularly those building multicultural or Arctic-region collections.?Roz Goodman, Bering Strait School District Media Center, Unalakleet, AK
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.