Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Flurry's Frozen Tundra by Virginia Kroll, illustrated by Michael Maydak

Flurry is an arctic fox who has woken up hungry, but he has a problem: the long, dark arctic winter hasn't loosened its hold on the tundra and food is scarce. When Flurry decides to try and steal a meal from Mighty One (the polar bear), his friends Oomingmak, the musk ox, and Snowy, the snowy owl, try to talk sense into him. While Flurry learns a lesson about patience and safety, students can learn some useful facts about this harsh habitat and these animals.
I used this as a read aloud with my 2nd & 3rd graders and was tickled to find them hanging on every word as they wondered what might happen to Flurry. I paired this with a non-fiction title called Arctic Foxes and showed them actual photographs of the tundra and arctic foxes and polar bears. Two for one--tie-in to their classroom lessons on habitats AND reinforcement of concepts of fiction/non-fiction. Yay! This book is part of the "My Home" series by Kroll and Maydak about animals and their habitats, including Kingston's Flowering Forest and Bluffy's Mighty Mountain.