The Very, Very Far North

This book has been a hit for the 5-10 yr old crowd. I read it to my two grandkids, they loved it. I appreciated the sly wit of the writer, and the kids laughed at the humorous bits as well. I gave a copy to my granddaughter’s preschool/kinder teachers, and they loved it, too. They will use as a read-aloud, and use the arctic animal characters as a point of study. A great gift for anyone looking for a great read-aloud for this age group. I also liked that the characters had different traits worth discussing with young kids—a tricky fox who likes to play jokes on others, an introverted owl, a very vain musk ox, and more. This one’s a keeper!

My daughter absolutely loved this book. She read it over winter break. And now she wants to read the next book. Super cute!

I am a preschool teacher that has just-finished-Kindergarteners every summer and it has become a tradition to use this as a read aloud every summer and I have come to enjoy it more and more every year. The characters are wonderful and the world building is enchanting and charming. You grow yo truly love Duane and his arctic friends as the story goes on. The illustrations are absolutely precious and add so much to the story telling. The kids get so excited when we get to a page with a picture and get so excited tonsee what the characters look like. Every year I even have a few kids that cry when we read the last chapter. We just started our yearly read through and I even find myself still laughing at some of the jokes and getting excited because we are meeting certain characters and getting to certain parts of this book. It has truly become a treasured memory I get to share with my students every year.

We just finished the second book of this series and are so sad it’s the end. Absolutely loved these books as a read aloud. I really enjoyed the choice of vocabulary (we got to learn a lot of new words) and the story is so sweet and thoughtful.

Blurbs describe this book as "reminiscent" of Winnie the Pooh, and that feels fair, as far as it goes. But, as Zen as Winnie might be, the writing style of the Pooh books is comparatively simple and straightforward. In this book, Duane and his friends, while kind, mellow, and empathetic, are also a bit edgy, or touchy, or even grouchy. And I loved it. My favorite Polar Bear is Daniel Pinkwater's Larry. While the Larry books are for younger readers, and for reading along and reading to, they also have a slightly skewed and sometimes surprisingly bracing vibe. This book struck me as the next step. Duane is a naif, but he isn't a dope. He looks for the bright side, but recognizes the dark. He is a force for goodness and kindness, and he coaxes the best out of those he encounters and befriends. But his companions can be vain, (Handsome the Musk Ox), superior and pedantic, (C.C. the Owl), reckless, (Magic the Arctic Fox), and so on. How Duane's fundamental goodness brings out the best in these characters underlies almost all of the the short chapter length tales, no matter what the substance of the actual tale might be. This is all enhanced by a slightly arch and mannered writing style. The narration is knowing, and teases the reader a bit. Again, the tone is good natured, and often very clever or laugh out loud funny, but there is a certain bemused detachment that I found engaging and rather refreshing. Little zingers and deadpan one-liners work a lot better for younger readers, I think, than most people appreciate. So, this really does fall into that hidden gem category, and it's just a lot more entertaining and rewarding than I ever expected. Reviewing "The House at Pooh Corner" as Constant Reader, Dorothy Parker admitted that "Tonstant Weader fwowed up". I suspect that Dorothy would have found this book much more to her liking. (Please note that I received a free advance will-self-destruct-in-x-days Adobe Digital copy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)

Great book my 10 year son loved it

A great story for read-aloud. The narrator is funny and the story is cute and engaging. Excellent story about being a good friend.

I bought this book to read aloud to our four year old. He loves animals and adventures. The characters are fun and likable and the book teaches some nice lessons in a gentle way that is fully integrated into the story (e.g. respecting friend's boundaries and recognizing neurodiversity). The narrative voice is quite amusing, lots of funny side comments to the reader etc. I would highly recommend to parents planning to read aloud to a child. I would say that the story would appeal to children from about 4-8.

My 8 year old adored this, lovely characters showing how we are all different but can still get along. She would love another story... illustrations are beautiful

Magnifique

I chose this book because of some reviews on websites for good chapter book read alouds for ages 4-6. My local library didn’t have the book, so I bought it without seeing it, as some online recommendations were so compelling. But after actually reading it to my son, I have mixed feelings about this book. The story is charming, very reminiscent of Winnie The Pooh, with a lot of wit and nice lessons taught. I love a book that has a good sprinkling of high vocabulary words and phrases to build my child’s language skills and encourage discussion. But the amount of challenging words is a bit overwhelming and kind of kills the flow of the book for the target age of the audience it is intended for. My son has a pretty good vocabulary for a 6 year old and we read a lot. BUT, I felt like I needed to explain a word or many words in almost every sentence, which made it not always the most fun to read. I feel like by the time most kids could read a book like this independently, they would not be interested in the content anymore. With that being said, my son did enjoy this book.

My son absolutely love this book. Aiming to get the next book 👍

Exelente! Me encanto!