Amazon Laura Regan Category:  Children Publisher: Putnam ISBN-10:  0399230114 Type: Fiction Pages: 32 Copyright: Mar 1 1998 Poetic text and dramatic illustrations authentically capture the powerful majesty of Arctic flora and fauna in this companion volume to "Welcome to the Green House" and "Welcome to the Sea of Sand" . Welcome to the ice house where through the long winter night of the Arctic prowl all kinds of animals--the fox looking for lemmings, the howling wolf pack on the trail of snowshoe hare, the lynx, the polar bear, and a thundering herd of moose. Beyond the ice, in a blue-black sea, swim seals, herds of walrus, and killer whales on the hunt. Then, suddenly, spring and summer return together in a burst of color as poppies and lupines bloom where once grew only ice and snow. Poetic text and dramatic illustrations authentically capture the powerful majesty of Arctic flora and fauna in this companion volume to Welcome to the Green House and Welcome to the Sea of Sand. Excerpt And slickly black, sleekly white, hunting through the lengthy Arctic night, sure as an arrow's arc along the ocean trails, south of the ice come the streamlined killer whales.

From School Library Journal
PreS-Gr 4The spareness of the arctic landscape lends itself to a picture book elegant in painting and poem. Yolen's confident hand with verbal rhythms has never been more evident. The author moves naturally from rhyming couplets to internal rhymes, letting the changing beats of the lines evoke "A ton of unpredictable moose on the loose" or "Lynx, now quick, now slow, now silent as snow." The unforced musical language is a pleasure to read aloud. Regan's double-page paintings use an icy palette of blues and whites to create a sense of chilly beauty and mystery. As the seasons change, the artist allows color to creep in gradually until summer on the tundra bursts forth in a riot of yellow poppies and blue lupines. As the warmth fades, the colors freeze up again, lit by the northern lights. Flora and fauna are rendered with meticulous accuracy, with the arctic tern and the arctic loon distinctly different from their relatives. Like Welcome to the Green House (1993) and Welcome to the Sea of Sand (1996, both Putnam), this book can fill a variety of niches. The friendly language and stunning art will pull in preschoolers and introduce them to environmental wonders. It would be an excellent introduction to an ecology unit for elementary grades. There is even a brief information essay on the back page, an address for further information, and an Alaska Web site. It will be a cold heart that is able to resist this beauty.Sally Margolis, Barton Public Library, VT

Booklist
Ages 4^-8. With its endlessly rolling hills of ice, the arctic landscape appears bleak and forbidding. Indeed, Regan's paintings are so realistic her scenes seem as if they should be icy to the touch! With each turn of the page, another effectively camouflaged native inhabitant--fox, wolf, lynx, ptarmigan--emerges from the blue whiteness as Yolen's evocative verse identifies the variety of predators and prey that inhabit the arctic nights. Swimming beyond the frozen land are seals, whales, and walrus, and gyrfalcons police the frigid skies. This menagerie blossoms with the arctic flowers in spring as caribou, grizzly bears, and an assortment of birds return to the thawing land. This companion to Yolen and Regan's Welcome to the Green House (1993) and Welcome to the Sea of Sand (1996) is an irresistible invitation to the "ice house" that will enrich youth science collections. Ellen Mandel

From Shalini Murthy - Children's Literature
The steady rhythm in Jane Yolen's words captures the grandeur and beauty of the fauna and flora that call the Arctic landscape home. Regan's artwork has an almost photographic realism in the depiction of the panoramic ice house and its inhabitants. Together, Yolen and Regan recreate the Arctic and the splendor cast by its seasons and bring it to life. In addition to being an enticing read, this book will be a most useful addition to a teaching unit on the Arctic region.