Way Up North Where the Kittiwakes Play
An A to Z Alphabet Book for Child and Adult
Made up of scientific facts, photographs, and questions about life on the Svalbard Archipelago, Way Up North Where the Kittiwakes Play is a lovely alphabet book.
Juli-Ann Gasper’s Way Up North Where the Kittiwakes Play is an alphabet book about the environment of the Svalbard Archipelago in Norway.
The book covers its topics in alphabetical order and includes scientific facts, photographs, and questions about the Arctic environment of the Svalbard Archipelago, its native creatures, the life of a researcher, and related subjects including climate change. A couple of new topics are presented with each letter, as with tundra and tusk under “T,” which are accompanied by a few questions about the topics plus photographs. More in-depth coverage is devoted to each letter’s “Big Word”—for example, with “T,” the term thigomatic (how attuned an animal is to touch) is covered. In the back matter come resources related to the climate and protecting the environment; these include tips, links, recommendations for further reading, and a vocabulary list that leads back to each letter.
The prose is clear and easy to understand, prompting thought by connecting each topic to others throughout the book. For instance, the article on saxifrage, a native flower, leads back to reindeer, who eat it. Etymological tidbits and explanations of how the subjects affect the daily lives researchers and residents of the region also play in. The tone is sometimes playful while also being scientific, helping to break down complex topics into bite-sized pieces. At points, it is chipper to excess, as where exclamation points appear where they aren’t needed.
Appearing on shifting sides of the page, the photographs are plentiful and eye-catching, depicting polar bears (“ice bears”), explorers, and beautiful houses painted to match the colors of the local landscape. They are accompanied by occasional maps and charts. The photographs also illustrate scientific points—for example, with images showing how the coat of the Arctic fox changes with the seasons, and how they hunt, sleep, and go on the lookout too. However, the background image that runs throughout the book is of ice floes, and it makes the black text difficult to read in spots. This is exacerbated by the font, the thickness of which varies to distracting effect.
Way Up North Where the Kittiwakes Play is a lovely picture book about the nature of the Arctic and what it’s like to live, explore, and research there.
Reviewed by
M. W. Merritt
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book and paid a small fee to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. Foreword Reviews and Clarion Reviews make no guarantee that the publisher will receive a positive review. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
