Taylor, Theodore.
ICE DRIFT
Orlando : Harcourt, 2005
IL 3-6, RL 5.0
ISBN 0152050817

(2 booktalks)

Imagine living for six months out in the ice and cold!  With only yourself and your younger brother to rely on!  That is this basis of this story.  A young Inuit boy, Alika and his brother are stranded on an ice floe while they are out ice fishing.  Knowing that their very lives are at risk and that the ice floe will keep traveling and eventually melt, Alika does all he can to keep he and his brother alive.  They face near starvation, freezing weather and fierce polar bears.  How can they possibly survive?  Could you?  This is based on a true story.

Booktalk #2

The day was perfect; Alika and his ten-year old brother Sulu were looking forward to an afternoon of seal fishing in the Artic. Suddenly, they heard a loud crack; the boys knew exactly what it meant. They were adrift on a patch of ice heading south. Faced with the threat of a polar bear attack, no food or shelter there was little hope of survival.  (Jean B. Bellavance for Pennsylvania Young Reader's Choice Awards, 2006-2007)