My Home on the Ice

Bibliography:

Lewis, J. Patrick. My Home on the Ice. New York: Scholastic Library Publishing, 2017. ISBN 978-0503122872

Summary:

This book gives facts about animals that live in the arctic tundra using poems and photographs.

Critical Analysis:

The beginning of the book has a table of contents to help readers find what they are looking for. The end of the book also contains a fact file with facts about each animal, freezing facts with facts about the region, a glossary of four words that students may not know and an about the author section. What more could a teacher ask for? The glossary words can be introduced as vocabulary at the beginning of the lesson. There are plenty of academic words that can be taught along with this book.

This ABCB rhyme scheme presents different animals that live in the arctic tundra. Real facts are given about each animal in a poem. The second and fourth line in each poem have words that rhyme. The rhyming words are cold/bold; part/chart/smart; coat/afloat; remain/domain; clothes/goes; swim/him; thing/wing; and year/reindeer. The poet plays with imagery in, "His jacket is snow white in winter;/ in summer, he changes his clothes/ to brown so he lives undercover/ wherever an arctic fox goes." The students can imagine what the coat looks like in winter and summer with the help of this description and the photograph provided.

It seems like a fun way to learn facts about animals and their habitats.

The introduction hooks you with two questions, "Who could survive in a frozen world?" "Who would live in a kingdom of cold? The responding lines that follow tell you what type of animals will survive in the cold. Each poem that follows offers facts with a little fun such as, "doctors noticed no knees on her chart." A pristine photograph in radiant color of each animal in its habitat is opposite of its poem. Another fact in a regular sentence is on the photograph to give a little more information about each animal. This is perfect for students studying animals and their habitats. The poems make it a fun learning experience. The grade level of this book is first and second grade. This seems appropriate for that age group. This book/series can be used in rhyming and poetry for reading. It can be used as an example of non-fiction. It can be used in science to study animals and habitats. A thematic unit will work perfectly with this book series.

Review Excerpt:

J. Patrick Lewis is recognized as Children's Poet Laureate.

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Connections:

Gather the other J. Patrick Lewis books from this series to read such as:

• Lewis, J. Patrick. My Home in the Water. ISBN 978-0531228746
• Lewis, J. Patrick. My Home in the Rainforest. ISBN 978-0531228739
• Lewis, J. Patrick. My Home in the Desert. ISBN 978-0531228715

Gather other animal habitat books to read such as:

• Spelman, Lucy, Dr. Animal Encyclopedia: 2,500 Animals with photos, maps, and more! ISBN 978-1426310225
• Jenkins, Steve. I see a Kookaburra! Discovering animal habitats around the world. ISBN 978-0618507641

Use the poetry books as an introduction to rhyming, poetry, animals and habitats. 

Use these animal habitat books to have students create projects on one animal and habitat of their choice.

Use these books and ideas to help students create a poem about a different animal and its habitat.