Overview
A Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor for Picture Book
Peter Sís has written and illustrated many books for children, including the Caldecott Honor books Starry Messenger: Galileo Galilei and Tibet Through the Red Box. He lives in New York City with his wife and two children.
"Not to be missed." (Kirkus Reviews)
"Sís uses his considerable imagination to enlarge upon the stories he remembers from his childhood to create a lively, modern tall tale about Jan Welzl, a folk hero in Sís's native Czechoslovakia. Welzl finds the freedom he seeks in the vast, frozen Arctic, where he has many fantastic adventures . . . The myriad, meticulous recorded details in the illustrations will be best appreciated upon close inspection. (The Horn Book)
"The artwork is a fascinating series of scenes in mottled watercolors with precise pen-and-ink drawings and stamped figures of arctic animals, snowflakes, and the like. The overall effect is mysterious . . . children will enjoy poring over the detailed drawings and maps and fitting the story together." (Booklist)
With the help of Eskimos, Jan Welzl survives a perilous journey from central Europe to the Arctic regions in the late 1800s.