FICTION

Tim and the Iceberg

by Paul COATES
illus. by Ian P. Benfold Haywood. unpaged. CIP. Star Bright. 2011. pap. $6.95. ISBN 978-1-59572-206-5. LC 2009040880.
COPY ISBN
K-Gr 2—While at the beach, Tim asks, "Grandpa, have you always lived in hot places?" Grandpa tells the child about a country so cold that icicles grew in his beard and icebergs were "bigger than houses." Tim decides to set sail and bring an iceberg back to his grandfather as a surprise. On his trip to the North Pole, he passes an oil rig, a pod of blue whales, and numerous other ocean creatures. He ties a rope to an iceberg with an iron stake and then tows it back. He's dismayed that it melts down to ice-cube size by the time he gets back to his grandpa, but that makes it just right to split in half for two glasses of lemonade. While this sweet story is richly illustrated, it has almost no narrative tension and the plot is flat.—Maggie Chase, Boise State University, ID
One hot day at the beach, Tim sets off by boat for the North Pole to find an iceberg to surprise his grandfather. He's just successful enough in his mission to make their day together even better. The narration, though heartfelt, is wordy and not always authentically childlike. The art, featuring soft outlines and a cool palette, recalls John Burningham's work.
Reviewed by Maggie Chase , Feb 01, 2012

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