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Arctic Spring
Spring in the Arctic brings new activity among the fox, seal, and other animals, but the polar bear has a very good reason for remaining firm by her den.
- GenresPicture Books
Unknown Binding
First published May 1, 1993
3 people want to read
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April 14, 2022
So if I were to just consider the 1993 non fiction picture book Arctic Spring with regard to Tim Vyner's artwork, yes, my rating would more than likely be four stars.
For Vyner's pictures are lush, descriptive, and really all of them do indeed and from my personal aesthetics very much almost gloriously show and present the seasonal changes and the variable weather during an Arctic spring both imaginatively and equally very much realistically (and Tim Vyner thus also visually shows and demonstrates with his artwork in Arctic Spring how Polar Bears, Arctic Hares and other Arctic wildlife must live through and handle all of this, how springtime in the Arctic is of course like springtime elsewhere the beginning of new life, the gradual warming of the earth, but also how even in spring, the Arctic can still face huge and dangerous blasts of winter blizzards and freezing temperatures which the animals must survive, and yes, including newly born infants).
But honestly and unfortunately, my glowingly positive aesthetic and visual reaction to Tim Vyner's illustrations is in my humble opinion simply not AT ALL mirrored by author Sue Vyner as she presents her writing in Arctic Spring.
Because honestly speaking, there really does seem to be a decidedly textual over-simplicity to be found in Sue Vyner's printed words, and sorry to say, there is for me absolutely nothing within the narrative of Arctic Spring that either informationally or stylistically comes even remotely close to Tim Vyner's oh so wonderful accompanying pictures (and yes, to such an extent, that personally, that for me, Sue Vyner's written information on the Arctic in the springtime is so sparse and pretty much majorly lacking that I really would much prefer Arctic Spring to be a wordless picture book without ANY text whatsoever, for I really do think that Sue Vyner's overly simplified narrative really and truly has the unfortunate tendency to rather massively and majorly verbally drag down and kind of lessen the descriptive visual beauty and aesthetic impact of Tim Vyner's artwork).
And finally, I was originally considering still rating Arctic Spring with three stars (as I do indeed think that Tim Vyner's pictures are truly un utter aesthetic delight and visual treat). However, the fact that I really do hugely despise how exaggeratedly simplistic and on the proverbial surface Sue Vyner's writing in Arctic Spring is and that she has also not bothered to include a list of books, a bibliography with suggestions for further reading and study on the Arctic, sorry, but I am getting increasingly annoyed at and by how often non fiction for children willfully ignores the necessity of for one showing an author's sources and for two providing a list of further books to think about, so that yes indeed, for me, the final rating for Arctic Spring can and will only be two stars, Tim Vyner's superb illustrations totally notwithstanding.
For Vyner's pictures are lush, descriptive, and really all of them do indeed and from my personal aesthetics very much almost gloriously show and present the seasonal changes and the variable weather during an Arctic spring both imaginatively and equally very much realistically (and Tim Vyner thus also visually shows and demonstrates with his artwork in Arctic Spring how Polar Bears, Arctic Hares and other Arctic wildlife must live through and handle all of this, how springtime in the Arctic is of course like springtime elsewhere the beginning of new life, the gradual warming of the earth, but also how even in spring, the Arctic can still face huge and dangerous blasts of winter blizzards and freezing temperatures which the animals must survive, and yes, including newly born infants).
But honestly and unfortunately, my glowingly positive aesthetic and visual reaction to Tim Vyner's illustrations is in my humble opinion simply not AT ALL mirrored by author Sue Vyner as she presents her writing in Arctic Spring.
Because honestly speaking, there really does seem to be a decidedly textual over-simplicity to be found in Sue Vyner's printed words, and sorry to say, there is for me absolutely nothing within the narrative of Arctic Spring that either informationally or stylistically comes even remotely close to Tim Vyner's oh so wonderful accompanying pictures (and yes, to such an extent, that personally, that for me, Sue Vyner's written information on the Arctic in the springtime is so sparse and pretty much majorly lacking that I really would much prefer Arctic Spring to be a wordless picture book without ANY text whatsoever, for I really do think that Sue Vyner's overly simplified narrative really and truly has the unfortunate tendency to rather massively and majorly verbally drag down and kind of lessen the descriptive visual beauty and aesthetic impact of Tim Vyner's artwork).
And finally, I was originally considering still rating Arctic Spring with three stars (as I do indeed think that Tim Vyner's pictures are truly un utter aesthetic delight and visual treat). However, the fact that I really do hugely despise how exaggeratedly simplistic and on the proverbial surface Sue Vyner's writing in Arctic Spring is and that she has also not bothered to include a list of books, a bibliography with suggestions for further reading and study on the Arctic, sorry, but I am getting increasingly annoyed at and by how often non fiction for children willfully ignores the necessity of for one showing an author's sources and for two providing a list of further books to think about, so that yes indeed, for me, the final rating for Arctic Spring can and will only be two stars, Tim Vyner's superb illustrations totally notwithstanding.
Displaying 1 of 1 review