HERE IS THE ARCTIC WINTER

The first painting sets the scene for this dramatic depiction of Arctic wildlife—a vast expanse of barren rock and wind-scoured snow under an immense sky rimmed with stars. On the next spread appear distant four-legged specks, followed by a closer view of three wolves trailing hoofprints in the snow; the sequence explodes into action as caribou flee the pursuing wolves. The perilous beauty of this harsh world is portrayed in icy blue, white, and black, with touches of subtle gold (moon on snow), purple (the back of a cod), and eerie green (northern lights). Several of the watercolors depict seals and narwhals beneath the ice while a polar bear stalks above, sniffing their breathing holes. An odd cumulative text (perhaps intended to reinforce the idea that each creature is a link in a chain of life) slowly fills a frosty column at the left of each spread, but it's neither successful as poetry nor informative (in one case—a narwhal is called ``the whale''—it's confusing). Despite the title, readers will have to turn elsewhere for hard information on the Arctic; still, well worth having for the beauty of the pictures. (Picture book. 4-9)