From the Publisher
"A decidedly cool collection for STEM."—Booklist
School Library Journal
08/01/2022
Gr 3–5—Eleven poems encapsulate the life cycle of ice, with digitally rendered illustrations detailing ice's myriad forms in a crisp, cool palette. The first poem, "Ice Is Born," highlights the crystalline shapes that are its building blocks. Each receives its own labeled inset, reminiscent of science texts, and it's a brilliant blending of the imaginative and factual. Poems like "Ice Grows" and "Ice Speaks" are quite lyrical, incorporating sensory imagery and onomatopoeia into the world of ice. Once "Sea Ice Is Born," appears, however, the more complex topic shifts the poetry from less melodic to more scientific pieces. The art is a smooth constant; the graphic design is exceptional, and most poems have their own spread, building a multilevel and vibrant world. Rich back matter includes an explanation of water in its three forms, user-friendly definitions, and a link to an online experiment for ice spikes. VERDICT A supplementary purchase to invigorate the A in STEAM.—Rachel Zuffa
Kirkus Reviews
2022-06-08
From hummocks and bummocks to frazil and floebergs, an introduction in poems and explanatory notes to ice’s many states and formations.
Gianferrari’s sonorous drifts of free verse are sometimes confusingly allusive on first reading—“Cat ice whorls / Swirl and twirl. / Brinicles sink, / Plume and bloom. // Pancake ice stacks / Smack and crack”—but make clearer sense after examining the illustrations and reading the extensive notes at the end. Readers who think ice in nature comes only in sheets, floating chunks, or icicles are in for an eye-opening experience as, in naturalistic vignettes and vistas, Chen depicts silky strands of hair ice around twigs and needle-thin spikes emerging from frozen ground; freezing seawater undergoing subtle color changes while crystallizing from “frazil” to “grease ice,” “nilas,” and ultimately free-floating sea ice; and, when temperatures rise, aging into “rotten” or “candle” ice before melting to begin the “ice cycle” again. Though the author neglects to note that water boils at 212 degrees only at sea level (and simplistically claims that it comes only in three states), she finishes off handsomely, listing types of terrestrial and marine ice (of which “new” sea ice alone has seven); explaining how floebits, floebergs, brash ice, and growlers are distinguished by their size ranges; defining numerous other special terms; then closing with leads to books, videos, and science projects. Bundled-up human figures in the pictures are rare and small but do show variations in skin color. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A rewarding exploration of a common substance’s complex nature. (Informational picture book/poetry. 7-9)
