Skating Wild on an Inland Sea

Skating Wild on an Inland Sea

Written by: Pendziwol, Jean E.
Illustrated by: Stewart, Todd
ages 6 and up / grades 1 and up

Let’s go! Experience the magic of skating on wild ice.

Two children wake up to hear the lake singing, then the wind begins wailing … or is it a wolf? They bundle up and venture out into the cold, carrying their skates. On the snow-covered shore, they spot tracks made by fox, deer, hare, mink, otter … and the wolf! In the bay, the ice is thick and smooth. They lace up their skates, step onto the ice, stroking and gliding, and the great lake sings again.

In her signature poetic style, Jean E. Pendziwol describes the exhilarating experience of skating on the wild ice of Lake Superior, including the haunting singing that occurs as the ice expands and contracts. Accompanied by Todd Stewart’s breathtaking illustrations, this book will make us all long to skate wild!

 

Key Text Features

illustrations

 

Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.3

Describe characters, settings, and major events in a story, using key details.

Let’s go! Experience the magic of skating on wild ice.

Two children wake up to hear the lake singing, then the wind begins wailing … or is it a wolf? They bundle up and venture out into the cold, carrying their skates. On the snow-covered shore, they spot tracks made by fox, deer, hare, mink, otter … and the wolf! In the bay, the ice is thick and smooth. They lace up their skates, step onto the ice, stroking and gliding, and the great lake sings again.

In her signature poetic style, Jean E. Pendziwol describes the exhilarating experience of skating on the wild ice of Lake Superior, including the haunting singing that occurs as the ice expands and contracts. Accompanied by Todd Stewart’s breathtaking illustrations, this book will make us all long to skate wild!

 

Key Text Features

illustrations

 

Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.3

Describe characters, settings, and major events in a story, using key details.

Published By Groundwood Books Ltd — Oct 3, 2023
Specifications 32 pages | 9.5 in x 11.5 in
Written By

JEAN E. PENDZIWOL’S highly acclaimed picture books include When I Listen to Silence, illustrated by Carmen Mok; I Found Hope in a Cherry Tree, illustrated by Nathalie Dion; Me and You and the Red Canoe, illustrated by Phil; and Once Upon a Northern Night, illustrated by Isabelle Arsenault (finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award and the TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award). She lives in Northwestern Ontario on the shores of Lake Superior.

Illustrated by

TODD STEWART is an illustrator and printmaker. His debut picture book, The Wind in the Trees (Quand le vent souffle), was a finalist for the TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award and the Governor General’s Literary Award. He has also illustrated Flow, Spin, Grow by Patchen Barss and See You Next Year by Andrew Larsen, among other titles. Todd’s screen-printed art has been shown in public and private exhibitions across Canada. He lives in Montreal, Quebec.

Written By

JEAN E. PENDZIWOL’S highly acclaimed picture books include When I Listen to Silence, illustrated by Carmen Mok; I Found Hope in a Cherry Tree, illustrated by Nathalie Dion; Me and You and the Red Canoe, illustrated by Phil; and Once Upon a Northern Night, illustrated by Isabelle Arsenault (finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award and the TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award). She lives in Northwestern Ontario on the shores of Lake Superior.

Illustrated by

TODD STEWART is an illustrator and printmaker. His debut picture book, The Wind in the Trees (Quand le vent souffle), was a finalist for the TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award and the Governor General’s Literary Award. He has also illustrated Flow, Spin, Grow by Patchen Barss and See You Next Year by Andrew Larsen, among other titles. Todd’s screen-printed art has been shown in public and private exhibitions across Canada. He lives in Montreal, Quebec.

Audience ages 6 and up / grades 1 and up
Key Text Features

Illustrations

Common Core CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.3

Striking, light- and shadow-filled winter landscapes by Stewart accompany evocative prose poetry by Pendziwol in this engrossing picture book. STARRED REVIEW

” —Publishers Weekly

Pendziwol writes evocatively about the immense and imposing lake and the sounds the ice makes vibrating under the children’s feet as they skate … [Stewart's] technique of drawing digitally, editing in Photoshop, and adding textures with scanned screens gives the book a vibrant and often majestic feel. 

” —Horn Book

Pendziwol’s lyrical prose hums harmoniously with Stewart’s textured landscape screen printing, immersing readers into a wintry wonderland of a reading experience … This breathtaking picture book will capture the beating hearts of explorers and ice skaters with a wondrous surprise at the end. 

” —Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

A beautiful winter adventure … The illustrations in the book are different and simple yet radiant.

” —Children's Literature Comprehensive Database

A lovely ode to nature for young skaters to read.

” —Book Riot

A poetical celebration of skating on Lake Superior.

” —Globe and Mail

An astonishing, poetic picture book ... Inspiring shivers from the splendour of the cold, the book shines a light on the wonders of winter.

” —Quill & Quire

Skating Wild on an Inland Sea reminds readers to see the extraordinary in a simple, everyday event. Nature, its beauty, and its creatures are all around us.

” —CM: Canadian Review of Materials