Arctic Lights, Arctic Nights

by Debbie S. Miller, Jon Van Zyle (illustrator)

Imagine a land where the sun rises at 1:58 a.m. in the summer and shines for less than four hours on a winter's day.  The animals in the wilderness near Fairbanks, Alaska, witness some of the world's greatest temperature extremes and light variations ever year.  At an average low of -16 degrees Fahrenheit, the winters may be unpleasantly frigid, but the light shows are always glorious!

Genres: Picture Books, Science, Nonfiction, Nature, Childrens, Kids

32 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2003

About the author

Debbie S Miller has lived in Alaska for 40 years, and has developed a passion for writing nature books about the extraordinary wilderness and wildlife that surround our home near Fairbanks. When she looks out my office window, she may see a moose walking by, chickadees or gray jays at the bird feeder, or a fox on the prowl.

During the early years, Debbie taught school in Arctic Village, a small village in the Brooks Range. She learned about the fascinating culture of the Athabaskan Indians, the natural history of the region, and the wonders of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, or ANWR. For many years Debbie's family explored this incredible place, studied the great caribou herds, and observed wolves, grizzly and polar bears, migratory birds, and other Alaska animals. Their many outdoor adventures and encounters with wildlife inspired her to write nature books for children and adults.

Debbie works closely with Jon Van Zyle, an outstanding Alaska wildlife artist who has illustrated ten of her children's picture books. Jon has lived in Alaska for 40 years and he has a deep love for the wilderness and wildlife of our state. He turns simple words into captivating paintings that authentically reflect the beauty of Alaska's environment.

Reviews

[Melki]

A fascinating look at a year spent near the Arctic Circle. The pages feature lovely paintings by Jon Van Zyle, and some text about the scene. At the top of page, we see the date, number of hours of daylight, the times of sunrise and sunset, and the average high and low temperatures. I learned that I could live there quite happily (black flies not withstanding!) from May until early September: then it just gets to cold and dark for me.

A lovely book for kids and adults alike.

[Luciana]

I'm fascinated by light in the North, in particular, the hours of daylight & night.

A well written book which documents the date(each month on the 21st), sunrise & sunset times, and average high & low temperatures. Along with that comes incredible illustrations & some information as to what is happening to animals, the temperatures & to the light during those time periods.

I would so love to go & see the Northern Lights (on my bucket list) & have been to Alaska in May where I experienced the sun rising at 3am & setting after 10pm. Incredible!!!

Well-written, informative & beautifully illustrated!

[Kris]

I have a weird obsession with the Northern Lights, and I am determined to see them in person. Until then, I satisfy this urge by reading books about them, and this is one of my favorites. It is gorgeous and informational and just amplified my urge to travel to them.

[Molly]

**2022-2023 Alaska Battle of the Books 3rd/4th Grade Selection**

Informative, lyrical book about life in Alaska throughout the seasons following the light. The illustrations beautifully compliment the concepts taught in this book.

[Jody Kyburz]

Very informative and well-illustrated. Even if your kids/students aren't studying Arctic anything, it's still a great read!

[Karen Hayes]

Striking illustrations guide your eye through the year in Fairbanks, AK - beautiful book helps children understand the solstices and equinoxes, and what is meant by the midnight sun.

[Hannah]

Excellent book!! Great illustrations to describe the change in daylight in the polar regions!

[Lokita]

The concrete information in this brief children's book is worth fifty Google-generated web pages. Highly recommend.

[Shannon Wunderlich]

Descriptive and informative. Well done.

[Cindi]

Picture books are for everyone!

This book speaks of the fascinating days and nights near the arctic circle in Alaska. This book describes the wildlife and what's going on with sun, clouds, light and darkness. I learned some things I didn't know before and considered what it would be like to live with constant daylight for the short summer. Did you know that when the seasons begin to change, they lose 7 minutes (or gain 7 minutes) of daylight PER day?? Amazing. Northern lights, sun dogs, blinks, alpenglow, flat light, glints, sparkles. Cool stuff!

Oh, and I just love it when I'm reading a picture book to myself and one of my kids says, "Ooh, I have to read that book!" (I was reading this last night and my 12 year old said that to me.)

[Sue]

This book explains the amount of daylight and night-light that Alaska has throughout the 12 months of the year. It is fabulous that on the top of every page you can read the date, season, and the amount of hours and minutes there are for that day. The illustrations are wonderful. In the back of the book there is a glossary to help with vocabulary.


Instructional uses for Arctic Lights Arctic Nights:
1. Use with Alaska unit. This book can be used to help teach students about the different towns, cities and communities of Alaska.
2. Use to show the amount of light in Alaska during the different months.
3. Use this book for a glossary lesson and new vocabulary words.
4. The students could graph the amount of daylight for each month.

[Lindsey]

I really liked how each page in this book came with a date, hours of daylight, average highs and lows in temperature, and the time of sunrise and sunset. This book did a great job showing what a winter and summer solstice looks like and means in Alaska. Of course the reader still may wonder about northern lights, but they will definitely understand that daylight hours are longer in the summer and the nights last forever in the winter. Miller did a great job showing how nature (rabbits, bears, birds) cope with this weather.

[Miri]

This book probably wouldn't have struck me so hard if I didn't already have a thing for Alaska, but it would have still been four stars easily. The onomatopoeic descriptions of the animals create a beautiful, poetic prose that had me holding my breath as I pictured and heard the scenes in my mind. The painted illustrations capture that gorgeous landscape in really lovely detail, and I loved the bar across the top of each page that showed the average temperatures and how much sunlight there is at each point in the year.

[Sarah]

This is definitely a book for older kids. I like the way the author gives the day and tells you exactly how much sunlight is in the day and the temperatures. It’s also a creative idea to show the affects of the region on the animals, seeing how they each live in this area.

Ages 7-12

[Teri]

I like this author--nice depiction of sunlight changes in the arctic circle.

[Amy!]

My review here.

[Jodi Lamb]

I like that this book shows the exact times and temperatures of each month in Alaska, it also tells times that the sun goes up and sets.

[Emelda]

This would be a great book for arctic life, northern lights, seasonal changes...

[Lorna]

Very interesting, I felt like I was there.