Title: Icy the Iceberg
Author: Larry Friend
Illustrations: Sidney “Mindy” Makis
Publisher: LitFire Publishing, LLC
ISBN: 978-1-64045-018-9
Genre: Children’s Fiction
Reviewed by: Justine Williams
Hollywood Book Review
With a goofy smile reminiscent of the cross-eyed Olaf the snowman character in Frozen, author Larry Friend gives his protagonist, Icy, the personification of a timeless snowflake in Icy the Iceberg. Written while the author was on an Alaskan cruise, looking out at the icebergs on the chilly water, Larry Friend brings to the imaginative minds of children a story of the evolution of a snowflake. As Icy is first made from the freezing water, then drifting down to rest along with other snowflakes, Icy gets packed down and compressed into a hardened ice mountain. Cold and dark he “chills” for many years until one day the mountain splits open and he is exposed to sunlight. A happy day for Icy indeed! He drifts along the ocean currents as the iceberg begins to thaw, melting away, where Icy becomes water. He then evaporated back into the sky, cooling once again in clouds – Icy than falls to the ground, joined by other snowflakes, and the cycle begins all over again.
The main adventure is when Icy is drifting in the ocean. He sees a whale breach the surface next to him and asks Icy if he could swim alongside for a while. A seal and otter played for hours as they were soaking up the sun’s rays on a ridge of Icy by the water. Icy enjoyed being outside and seeing everything. He made a friend with a polar bear and had made many friends before noticing the palm trees, warmer water and the shrinking of the iceberg. As Icy melted, he wasn’t afraid because he knew of what will eventually happen all over again.
This story combines many good lessons for children to learn as they can imagine an iceberg having feelings. Icy has faith in knowledge at the end which suppresses his apprehension and fear of the unknown. There was a point in which Icy was going to “give up” but held-in-there and everything got better. Also different “things” can be friends – a whale, polar bears and playful sea otters can befriend an iceberg – anything is possible in the imagination with good thoughts abound.
This is a perfect little book to introduce winter and snow to your child. It gives several facts about winter but in a fun easy to understand description. With a storyboard of text and images, Icy the Iceberg will take its rightful place on children’s bookshelves as what will surely be one of their favorite bedtime stories. Best to pull up the covers to keep you warm when reading about Icy the Iceberg, its cold out there!