[.ca] Arctic Alphabet: Exploring the North From A to Z (ISBN 1552093360)

Interested in the Arctic?:
This is not your typical alphabet book. Each letter of the alphabet is represented by a natural phenomenon of the Arctic and has three or four paragraphs of text about that subject. The facts in the text are interesting. Did you know that the fastest moving glacier in the Arctic, located in Greenland, can move at a speed of up to two feet an hour? That beluga whales can sometimes lift the ice to get a quick breath of air before it dives again? That quivut is the soft, fine wool of the muskox? If you read this book, you'll find these and many other interesting facts. My third grade students make alphabet books and this is a wonderful example for them to pattern their writing after. The photographs that accompany the text are stunning also. The author, Dr. Wayne Lynch, has chosen unusual subjects for the book. This serves to expand the minds of the children who read or are read this book. For example, some new topics for my students include jaeger, kittiwake, lousewort, xanthoria, yellowcoat, and zooplankton. The author explains these topics in a way that children will understand.