BIG ALASKA

The author and illustrator team of Arctic Lights, Arctic Nights (2003) and other titles on their home state add another tourist picture book for browsing. A glimpse of Alaska as the eagle flies, this highlights the superlatives of the state including the largest temperate rain forest, walrus sanctuary, highest coastal mountains, worst oil spill, largest land bear and more. The double-page acrylic paintings in blue and grey emphasize the vastness of the territory. The author concludes with brief Alaska facts, climate records, additional information and web sites for each of the sites described as well as a map of the sites visited. Students researching Alaska will need to look elsewhere, but this title may spur the curiosity of armchair adventurers and naturalists. (Nonfiction. 8-10)