Review: Icebound Summer by Sally Carrighar.

This was an amazing, adventurous, and captivating read. It was an older read (1951) but I find so many old written books that are fabulous. I like reading classics and they most of the time they are unforgettable. This book is also educational with information on animal behavior. Every chapter the reader is introduced to a different artic animal and their interaction to the environment and human beings.

The different animals covered in this book are caribou, walrus, humpback whale, loons, foxes, seals, lemmings and etc…It’s a way of learning about these animals and their habitat. The author explains with a clear observation and the condition of life, species, and with great compassion almost from an animal’s perspective. ( )

Describes one season in the arctic, each chapter focused on a particular animal. The vast, frozen landscape is a prominent feature against which seals, foxes, lemmings, whales, loons, terns, plover, walrus and men make their living. Other animals are secondary characters: gulls, orcas, caribou. My favorite chapter is one titled "The Brave Fawns" which features an illustration of a young caribou on the first page. I was expecting to read about the arctic deer, but instead it told of two Eskimo children who were left in camp while their parents went hunting. When the adults failed to return, the children were forced to attempt survival on their own.

From the Dog Ear Diary ( )