Annotation:
This picture book is full of beautiful pictures of Alaska, and its animals and people. The text on each page has a combination of poetry, Cheechako (newcomer to Alaska) tips and descriptive text about Alaska and its wildlife, climate and terrain.

My Review:
Although the books has beautiful photos that help capture the grandness of this State, the text is both dense and informative. For this reason, it’s hard for me to decide the age range of interest. The younger child would typically not have the patience to listen to all the text on each page. The younger set would be interested in the short poems on each page and the photos. However the text gives much good information that would be helpful for an older child to use, for example, on a report on Alaska. There is almost too much happening on each page. The information is good, but the layout and text can be confusing.

Other Reviews:

Kirkus Reviews: This review writes of the “eye-filling nature photos with bits of Alaskan history.” In general, this is a good review of the book. However, it does not speak to the age range. The review writes that “readers will linger over both the pictures and the word portraits.” This review would not convince me that I should choose this portrait of Alaska.

School Library Journal - This reviewer gives a good description of the work, “The writing is clear and informative, and the author's love of Alaska is infectious. She writes in an inviting, informal way that is never dry even when listing facts and numbers.” As I stated above, however, the reviewer is aware that ”The subjects of the photographs are stunning, but the material overlaid on them can be distracting, and though they are generally of high quality, some are grainy. Overall, while the content is worthy, the book suffers from a poor layout.” HA! I am vindicated. The author’s enthusiasm is apparent, but the layout is distracting. ( )