Tundra Discoveries by Ginger Wadsworth

illustrated by John Carrozza

"Travel north to the roof of the world and discover the arctic tundra!"

Readers of all ages will be fascinated by the ever-changing life cycle of the arctic tundra. Learn which animals come and go and how they survive in this frozen desert. As spring approaches, the temperatures are still freezing. Thousands of caribou begin to travel north along the same paths that caribou have traveled for centuries to graze on tundra grasses. It is not until the fall "freeze-up" that the caribou begin their migration south once again. Then polar bears descend along the icy coastline, and snowy owls prey the darkened skies. A thermometer and calendar on each spread help the reader see the temperature and hours of daylight change throughout an arctic year.

Tundra Discoveries presents this landscape and its inhabitants in clear, concise text, threading together the lives of plants and animals and the ways they survive in this harsh environment. Every page is covered with beautiful illustrations that show that the tundra is a thriving community teeming with life. As one spread portrays the life and habits of a specific animal, a question follows on the next spread that urges even the youngest reader to apply the knowledge that they have just learned.

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An attractive, ambitious, but not totally satisfying picture-book overview of arctic tundra life. Each double-page spread focuses on a month, beginning and ending with April. An animal is introduced on the left side; the facting page shows it in a landscape and aks a question intended to invite participation ("How many caribou can you count?"). A thermometer gives the average temperature for the month and a small pie chart indicates the proportion of hours of daylight and darkness on a typical day. The final spread shows a kind of seasonal spectrum with each of the 13 tundra dwellers and the instructions, " Try to see how many of them you can name!" The watercolor illustrations are accurate in their depiction of the animals, but feature a black-outline style that gives the landscapes a two-dimensional look. The audience for the book is questionable. The subject might be of interest to grade-school children but the format and the questions seem geared to preschoolers. However, the proportional pie charts, which look confusingly similar to clock faces, would be difficult for those children to interpret. The text is interesting but oversimplified. While Wadsworth writes that caribou migrate along "well-worn trails they have taken for centuries," biologists and hunters find that, although caribou herds have traditional summer and winter grounds, the routes themselves may vary from year to year. A glossary provides some useful definitions for terms such as " biome" and "permafrost," and some words ("herd," "claws") that are hard to imagine a child not knowing.

(School Libary Journal, August 1999)