Just how cold is too cold for recess in Alaska? Answer: if it’s colder than 20 below zero. And how cold is 20 below? Well, cold enough for your nose to dry out, your tongue to instantly freeze on metal, and your breath to collect on your eyelashes and hair and freeze into a mysterious, delicate ice shield. Each page of this homage to outside play under extraordinary conditions is sure to elicit a gasp of surprise and delight from children who rarely experience the snow and cold as the children in Delta Junction, Alaska, do. Humorous photos tell the story here: students walking in the dark to school, every inch of their bodies covered with mittens, boots, parkas, balaclavas, and snow pants; children sledding down the mountain of snow on the playground that grows each time the parking lot snow is cleared. Aillaud’s straightforward text misses no interesting detail, from the presence of a dangerous moose (no one’s allowed out that day), to the scant three hours between sunrise and sunset, to the snow tunnels that warm the frozen revelers. Bundle up . . . but don’t forget to go to the bathroom before you put on all those layers!—HORN BOOK REVIEW
Kindergarten-Grade 3–Through minimal text, a girl describes dressing for and enjoying recess in Alaska, even when it is 20 degrees below zero. Colorful, clear photographs, many framed against pastel backgrounds imprinted with snowflakes, show the various items of clothing the children put on and their playground activities, such as sledding, making forts, and playing soccer or football. Telling pictures feature frozen eyelashes, hair, and eyebrows, as well as the mounds of clothing when recess is over. The only thing that stops these students from going outside for a break from their studies is a temperature lower than 20 below or a random moose.—SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL K-Gr. 3. Aillaud, who wrote the text and took the photos here, teaches elementary physical education in Delta Junction, Alaska, a town at the end of the Alaska Highway, above the Arctic Circle. By focusing on one school activity—outdoor recess (the cut-off point for the school's outdoor recess is 20 below), she demonstrates how cold things get and how kids deal with it and still have plenty of fun. The first-person narrative, from a student's perspective, explains the arduous process of suiting up for the outdoors, then follows the kids as they sled, adapt to playground equipment buried under snow, make snow forts and tunnels, and even play soccer and football. Twenty-five color photographs capture marvelous details: snow mounds, a moose on the playground, kids whose eyelashes are weighed down by ice. Aillaud, who won a Fulbright Memorial Fund Scholarship in 2000 and was selected as a Disney Teacher of the Year, gives a familiar school-day activity a whole new meaning in delightful, intriguing fashion.—BOOKLIST
