PENGUINS & POLAR BEARS

Breezy introductions to the flora, fauna, natural features, residents, and researchers of our planet’s “crazy cold” polar regions.

Though characteristic plants and animals get generous coverage in the casually organized single-topic spreads, the human presence at the top and bottom of our world comes in for at least as much notice. Readers pay quick visits to the town of Ilulissat, Greenland (4,530 people, 3,500 sled dogs), and Antarctica’s ski-mounted Halley VI station, among other locales, and meet representatives of eight of the Arctic’s 40 Indigenous groups and a group of schoolchildren in Nunavut. Nods to select explorers include mention of both two White women who together made a trans-Antarctic ski trek in 2001 and the names of the four Inuit men who accompanied Matthew Henson and Robert Peary to (the vicinity of) the North Pole. Budding scientists can also follow a brown-skinned researcher through her day at McMurdo Station. In her commentary, scattered throughout in easily digestible blocks, Klepeis properly acknowledges interactions between contemporary and traditional cultures and practices—noting, for instance, that “nowadays, lots of Arctic people buy winter clothing made from synthetic materials” and that ketchup or mayo are popular condiments for seal meat dishes. Helmer’s painted figures, human and otherwise, tend to be small, but she depicts them and their icy settings with easy naturalism.

A wide-angled view of two forbidding but far from deserted climes.