"When you live in the Arctic in winter,
everything is a shade of white."
A little girl and her grandfather seek out color - the Northern Lights - among all the shades of white in the Arctic. ( )

"When you live in the Arctic in winter, everything is a shade of white."

One night, the young girl's grandfather smiles and hums. She thinks he is keeping a secret. She follows him as he walks out across the cold tundra. Others of the community follow too. All the while, she sees the whites of the tundra. They finally reach a place where grandfather stops. The beauty of the Northern Lights dances across the sky before them where they enjoy the glorious colors, their movements, together.

She had hoped for color in her world. She got so much that she wanted to hold onto this wild array of color. She painted, paper after paper. She recalled the beautiful colors as she recorded them with paint. Then she filled the walls of the igloo with the colors of the Northern Lights.

Where everything is a shade of white, "...inside, there is hope." Thus a sweet ending to this little book.
Because the book shows this community living in igloos, one may wonder if there are any peoples living in them today. If we, as adults, ask a question about igloos, surely, children will. Because a people or a location on the tundra is not mentioned, confusion may arise. So a bit a preparation about igloo-living, the Tundra, and the Northern Lights would be recommended before reading the book aloud to a class or even to one child. Lessons can be gleaned from this book with some outside research.

Thoughtful words combined with illustrations of watercolor and ink on Arches cold-pressed paper, digitally enhanced, make this a book to read in the winter when much of our own surroundings may be white.

Reading Level: 4 - 8 years

Author

Danna Smith grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah. Her father trained, bred, and rehabilitated animals. She was around all types of animals, growing to love animals and nature. She also loved words, writing poems and stories that "sparked emotion." This combination of animals, nature, and writing has led to some wonderful children's books by Mrs. Smith.

Danna "lives in Northern California with her husband, two grown children, and their cocker spaniel, Peanut. She enjoys spending time outdoors and painting with watercolors but most of the time, you can find her at her computer playing with words." You can find her wonderful website @ http://www.dannasmithbooks.com Her Twitter handle is @dannasmith8

Illustrator
Lee White has illustrated ten children's books, other things as well. He currently lives in Portland, Oregon. He graduated from the Art Center College of Design in 2003 (with honors) and has been working as an illustrator ever since. He is writing two new books as well as working in visual development for animation and games. He can be found @ http://www.leewhiteillustration.com ( )

This book was about a family who lived in the arctic and how its always white with not much color. They set out one night to view the Northern lights. ( )