Iceberg: A Life in Seasons

From the very endpapers which set the mood with their soft blues and greys to the lyrical text with its rich vocabulary, Iceberg: A Life in Seasons is “quiet”, yet powerful. It begins in the last freeze of an Antarctic winter when an iceberg calves, shearing from a glacier and plunging to the sea. What appears to be a desolate environment is actually teeming with life: penguins, leopard seals, orcas, terns, cormorants, shearwaters and humpback whales. The cycle of the seasons brings changes to the iceberg: summer heralds the arrival of birds while autumn brings shorter days and the departure of migrating species. Winter returns, trapping the iceberg in the ice for the winter freeze. With the arrival of another spring, the old iceberg reaches the end of its cycle, but a new one calves, and thus the “delicate dance” of ocean, sky, snow and ice begins anew.

The concepts of life cycles, food chains, migration and climate are woven throughout the poetic text. Referring to the iceberg in anthropomorphic terms, the author states, “Far from the places we know, it feels everything we do”, a bit of a cautionary tale about climate change.

Readers will be introduced to such words and terms as “salps”, “frazil crystals”, “raft ice”, “pancakes” and “aurora”. One interesting fact is that the iceberg “carries ancient weather in its layers of ice-clothing, a coat for each year volcanoes blew and black ash fell like snow.”

The mixed media illustrations, watercolour, collage, acrylic, pencil, ink and digital, are rendered mainly in muted shades of teal, green, blue, grey, and aqua, contrasted against the white of the icebergs. They are a visual delight as the artist has not only shown the iceberg and the animals that live on top of the ice but has also challenged readers to find cleverly hidden animals beneath the water. A gatefold illustration depicts many species of animals, demonstrating to readers that Antarctic waters are not empty and lifeless.

A glossary and a small map are provided in Iceberg: A Life in Seasons, along with a special note about the impact of climate change on polar regions and the importance of preserving the delicate balance in their unique ecosystems.

Beautifully written and visually stunning!