I could not bring myself to write about this book before it is well and truly the snowy season here in Minnesota.
Every page of One Winter Up North is covered with ice and snow. Cold rises from the pages.
The long-ago wilderness that is preserved in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in Minnesota, stretching for 150 miles along the Canadian border, is the setting for John Owens’ newest wordless picture book.
The same family that reveled in camping in the summertime Superior National Forest are back, this time snowshoeing, pulling sleds with supplies, navigating fresh snow with ski poles.
Elementary or middle-grade child, mother, father — they explore pine and birch in a palette of whites, blue, grays, and spots of warm color that help readers feel and understand this very special place.
When the child pulls on layers of clothing, children in warmer climes will understand what it takes to stay warm.
Exploring animal tracks, listening to wolves howl, warming up with hot food at the campsite, the author includes the whole experience in this friendly, fascinating travel book that invites us all to have an awe-inducing adventure.
Please read my interview with John Owens in a prior issue of Bookology magazine about his work as an illustrator and his background that brought him to book illustration.
Highly recommended.
One Winter Up North
John Owens
University of Minnesota Press, 2022
ISBN 978 – 1517912925
Hey, Vicki, Good to see your smiling face!
And I’m going to order ONE WINTER UP NORTH to send along with gifts to relatives in Norway…
What a wonderful idea, Norma.