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BODIES FROM THE ICE

Name: BODIES FROM THE ICE
Author: James M. Deem
ISBN: 978-0-618-80045-2

MELTING GLACIERS AND THE RECOVERY OF THE PAST

by James M. Deem ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 6, 2008

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With global warming, the glaciers that crown our highest mountains have retreated, revealing humans who died there long ago. This respectful photo-essay opens with the story of Ötzi, found in the Alps in 1991 more than 5,000 years after his death. Deem goes on to explain how glaciers work to preserve and destroy human remains and to provide some historical background. Looking beyond Europe, he describes Inca children sacrificed on high Andean peaks, the discovery of the body of George Mallory, who died on Mt. Everest in 1924, and a man who died between 1670 and 1850 in what is now northern British Columbia whose DNA revealed connections to present-day First Nations Canadians. Clearly identified lithographs, paintings and archival photos help readers see how much has changed in these high altitudes, while maps make clear the locations of particular discoveries. Photos of skulls, mummified bodies and artifacts will fascinate readers. An intriguing read, complementing the author’s highly commended Bodies from the Bog (1998) and Bodies from the Ash (2005), with a bonus environmental message. (environmental tips, glaciers to visit, websites, bibliography, illustration credits) (Nonfiction. 10-16)

Pub Date: Oct. 6, 2008

ISBN: 978-0-618-80045-2

Page Count: 64

Publisher: N/A

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2008

Categories:

CHILDREN'S HISTORY | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL SCIENCES

- BOOK REVIEW
THE PRISONERS OF BREENDONK
by James M. Deem ; photographed by Leon Nolis

- BOOK REVIEW
FACES FROM THE PAST
by James M. Deem

- BOOK REVIEW
BODIES FROM THE ASH
by James M. Deem

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RIGHT HERE ON THIS SPOT

by Sharon Hart Addy ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 1999

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This impressive picture book shares a history of the land and its people with a grandfather on a tractor drive through his cabbage field. The items that turn up are a chipped stone tool from the time of the mastodon, a lost arrowhead from centuries later, and a Civil War button. The brief main text is lyrical and thoughtful, while the author concludes with a note describing how Paleo-Indians came to the shores of Lake Michigan during the Ice Age; how the Illinois and Potawatomi Indians came after the glaciers melted; and how trappers, frontiersmen, and homesteaders came still later to build the farms and houses still in existence in Wisconsin and Michigan. Soft gray pencil drawings and double-page watercolors amplify the text; Clapp is especially adept at capturing the sweep of sky and the brown earth of the farm in broad bands of color, maximizing the impact of the medium. An appealing introduction to archaeology, and to the concept of continuity through the passing of time. (Picture book. 6-10)

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1999

ISBN: 0-395-73091-0

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1999

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL SCIENCES

- BOOK REVIEW
LUCKY JAKE
by Sharon Hart Addy & illustrated by Wade Zahares

- BOOK REVIEW
WHEN WISHES WERE HORSES
by Sharon Hart Addy & illustrated by Brad Sneed

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CELEBRATE THE 50 STATES!

by Loreen Leedy ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 15, 1999

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Leedy (Measuring Penny, 1998, etc.), so deft in making hard facts memorable and setting information into a context that makes sense to children, selects a hodge-podge of details and miscellany to convey a sense of what every state is about, as either a political entity or a place. Into lively, effulgent illustrations she plants a monotonous, forgettable list of items to distinguish every state: a map, the state flower and bird, a whiff of landscape, a glimpse of industry. There’s little about such a list—e.g., wheat, pronghorn, western meadowlark, prairie rose, Sitting Bull—to shout, in that example, “North Dakota” to children. The alphabetical listing—Alaska through Wyoming, four states a spread, with room for the US territories and Washington, D.C.—will help researchers, although it necessarily separates states that have natural geographic or historic connections, such as Vermont and New Hampshire, or West Virginia and Virginia, divided during the Civil War. Readers gain a good, first-line resource, with all the enthusiasm Leedy has made her trademark, but without much chance that they’ll adopt the excitement. (Picture book. 4-8)