• Age: 3 to 6
• Grade: p to 1

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.

Jean E. Pendziwol has published several highly acclaimed picture books, including 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 is also the author of Marja’s Skis, illustrated by Jirina Marton, and The Red Sash and Dawn Watch, illustrated by Nicolas Debon. Jean’s debut adult novel, The Lightkeeper’s Daughters, will be published in 2017 in more than ten languages. Jean finds inspiration in the rich history, culture and geography of Northwestern Ontario where she lives in the shadow of the Nor’Wester Mountains near Lake Superior.

Jean E. Pendziwol's profile page

TODD STEWART is an illustrator and a self-taught screen printer in Montreal, Quebec. Trained as a landscape architect and urban planner, his images are culled from experience and surroundings, and reflect a search for meaning in new and familiar places. The Wind and the Trees is his first book as both author and illustrator. He is also the illustrator of Flow, Spin, Grow and See You Next Year.

 

Todd Stewart's profile page

• Commended, Cooperative Children's Book Center, CCBC Choices
• Commended, Bank Street College of Education Best Children's Books of the Year
• Short-listed, Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children's Book Awards
• Runner-up, Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, Crystal Kite Awards
• Winner, TD Canadian Children's Literature Award
• Winner, Governor General's Literary Award, Young People's Literature — Illustrated Books
• Short-listed, Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award
• Winner, Elizabeth Mrazik-Cleaver Canadian Picture Book Award

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 visually and verbally transporting evocation of the deep green ice and winter light of northern Lake Superior.

Toronto Star

One of the most beautiful books of this year, both in the quality of the storytelling and its illustrations.

Chronicle Journal

A wonderful wintery story that will make readers of all ages want to experience the outdoors.

Calgary Herald

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

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

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

It's rare to find a children’s book in prose as captivating as this … The illustrations are as attractive as the writing style. Stewart's hand captures the stark beauty of a winter’s morning and the hushed majesty of rising light. To look at this book is to feel the sting of winter in your lungs and the wet kiss of condensation collecting in a scarf.

Montreal Review of Books

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

A poetical celebration of skating on Lake Superior.

Globe and Mail

Captures the joys of the winter season.

Montreal Gazette

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

Publishers Weekly