Winter Bees & Other Poems of the Cold

by Joyce Sidman, Rick Allen (Illustrator)

Overview

     In this outstanding picture book collection of poems by Newbery Honor-winning poet, Joyce Sidman (Song of the Water Boatman, Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night), discover how animals stay alive in the wintertime and learn about their secret lives happening under the snow. Paired with stunning linoleum print illustrations by Rick Allen, that celebrate nature's beauty and power.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780547906508
Publisher:	Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Publication date:	11/04/2014
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	210,827
Product dimensions:	9.60(w) x 11.30(h) x 0.60(d)
Lexile:	NP (what's this?)
Age Range:	6 - 9 Years

About the Author

Newbery Honor winner Joyce Sidman is simply one of the best poets writing for children today. Her accolades include a Lee Bennet Hopkins Award, winner of the Cybil Award, Texas Bluebonnet Master List, two Caldecott Honors, winner of the Claudia Lewis Award, and many stars and notables and best of lists. For her award-winning body of work, she recently won the Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children. She lives in Wayzata, Minnesota. Visit www.joycesidman.com

On the tip of Lake Superior at the Kenspeckle Letterpress in Duluth, Minnesota, Rick Allen creates stunning prints, pressing original linoleum cuts, curious wood engravings, eccentric broadsheets, and other printed ephemera in collaboration with his wife and creative partner, Marian Lansky, and their assistant, Janelle Miller. Visit www.kenspeckleletterpress.com.

Editorial Reviews

Some elegant strategies for surviving snowy Northern winters come to life in these cogent poems, accompanied by factual sidebars and strikingly colored prints.

The New York Times Book Review - Maria Russo

★ 09/08/2014
Just as Sidman and Allen saw through the ominousness of night to find beauty and joy in the Newbery Honor–winning Dark Emperor, they now discover warmth, community, and wisdom in the dead of winter. Sidman’s 12 poems draw readers through the first whiff of winter that sends tundra swans migrating to warmer climates (“As we tucked beaks/ into feathers and settled for sleep,/ our wings knew”) to the humble, unlikely first observers of spring’s arrival: skunk cabbage and springtails (snow fleas). Along the way, readers are treated to fascinating details about snakes, beavers, wolves, ravens, and other animals in extensive sidebars, while Allen’s hand-colored, digitally layered linocuts bring a stately majesty to every page. Each poem brings a sense of humor, respect, or wonder to its subject, from minuscule bees “Born with eyelash legs/ and tinsel wings” to an imposing “slumberous moose.” Ages 6–9. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

* "Each poem brings a sense of humor, respect, or wonder to its subject."
—Publishers Weekly, starred review

• "Concluded with a glossary of big but fascinating words, this is equally suited to curricular units and cozy reads in front of a fire."
—Booklist, starred review

• "A work to be savored by young artists and scientists."
—Kirkus, starred review

• "Winter Bees distinguishes itself with a focus on the science of animal survival, coupled with superlative illustrations. Readers young and old will enjoy this winter journey and marvel at the wonders of nature."
—School Library Journal, starred review

"A handsome, persuasive, and authentic ambassador for creatures in their natural state."
—Horn Book Magazine

"A collection that's as crisp as the first snowfall, Winter Bees is the pefect way to pass a chilly afternoon."
—Bookpage

"This author-artist duo makes winter wonder-filled."
—Shelf Awareness

• "Sidman is a master at retaining overall momentum while giving the individual poems their own form and style."
—Bulletin, starred review

From the Publisher

The images evoked by these twelve poems transport the reader to places of deep snow and shimmering ice, blustering wind and animals’ lives wrapped in the frozen silence of the wilderness winter. As a poet, Sidman carefully chooses words that reveal the essence of the winter lives of diverse animals: large and small, ones that roam during the cold months and ones which burrow underground, ones that cluster in hives or live in frozen ponds, and also birds and skunk cabbages. The experience of each species comes to life with colors that leap across double page spreads. The red fox on the book jacket appears inside the book in two supporting roles and then stars in the poem about the perils of the vole. The poetic language is paired with Sidman’s accurate scientific descriptions of how the animals and plants adapt to the cold. This combination of elegance and fact appeals to both the reader’s imagination and to the reader’s desire to know more. Allen’s hand-colored linoleum block prints make real the vibrancy and beauty of the northern winter. The art displays varying perspectives of the winter habitats and conveys the sense of action, sometimes inaction, with urgency and accuracy. On the copyright page, Allen describes his work as a combination of a traditional printing process with digital scans of the many separate prints to compose and layer the scenic images that appear on the pages of the book. This exceptional book is appropriate for the language arts classrooms and the science classrooms of upper elementary and middle schools. The titles of the poems are listed in a table of contents and a glossary completes the book. Sidman and Allen once again have collaborated to bring poetry, scientific fact, and art together to develop a theme. Reviewer: Carol J. Wolfenbarger, Ph.D.; Ages 8 to 12.

Children's Literature - Carol J. Wolfenbarger

★ 11/01/2014
K-Gr 4—The 12 selections in this collection offer a winter wonderland of deftly crafted poetry, fascinating science facts, an amazingly rich vocabulary, and stunning illustrations. In the title poem, the bees are lyrically described, "Born with eyelash legs/and tinsel wings/we are nothing on our own./Together, we are One….Deep in the winter hive,/we burn like a golden sun." In "Big Brown Moose," the animal humorously chants, "I'm a big brown moose,/I'm a rascally moose,/I'm a moose with a tough shaggy hide…" Science facts about the animals' lives in harsh winter climates appear in sidebars on each spread. Sidman explores the safe places that allow for survival, such as in the underwater beaver lodge, "In the dim oval room,/they groom, snack, kiss;/strong brown bullets that dive/in the under-ice world." The poet also includes the role of plant species in the process, such as the skunk cabbage that signals spring's arrival as the first plant to sprout through the snow and its importance as it attracts insect pollinators. Readers come to understand that the seemingly barren winter is actually teaming with the hidden activity of plant and animal life. Allen's intricately detailed, hand-colored, linoleum prints jump off the page, wrap around the words, and breathe life into the foxes, voles, swans, wolves, and more. This combination provides a magnificent celebration of winter that delights and informs. A comprehensive glossary of specialized words is included. Douglas Florian's Winter Eyes (Greenwillow, 1999), Barbara Rogasky's Winter Poems (Scholastic, 1995), and Anna Grossnickle Hines's Winter Lights (Greenwillow, 1995) also celebrate the season but cover a wide range of events. Winter Bees distinguishes itself with a focus on the science of animal survival, coupled with superlative illustrations. Readers young and old will enjoy this winter journey and marvel at the wonders of nature.—Carole Phillips, Greenacres Elementary School, Scarsdale, NY

School Library Journal

★ 2014-09-14
How do animals survive and thrive in the bitter cold of winter in the northern tundra? Sidman explains and celebrates their remarkable adaptations in a collection of carefully constructed and delightfully varied poems. The moose calf is naturally built for cold and brags about all his achievements in a lilting, rhyming verse. The tundra swans rest in the marshes and wait for the right time to migrate south as they dream lovely images of their flight. The winter bees huddle in a warm, humming mass. With lines repeated in the strict organization of a pantoum poem, the beavers dart about in complete silence in the watery space beneath the ice. In dual-voiced verse, the raven and wolf exhort each other to be watchful and successful in their hunting. Other animals, along with trees and snowflakes, take their turns in the stark beauty surrounding them. The final two poems hint at the coming of spring. Fascinating, detailed information about the subjects accompanies each poem. The poems appear on the left, with the factual material on the right of double-page spreads, while Allen's intricate, unusual and exquisite illustrations take center stage. They are rendered in a combination of media, including large numbers of cut, inked and hand-colored linoleum blocks, which are then digitized and layered; the result is magic. A work to be savored by young artists and scientists. (glossary) (Informational picture book/poetry. 6-10)

Kirkus Reviews