Frigid arctic conditions are known to affect a person’s thinking, but in the manner of polar explorers, Ida (white) does her best to accurately recount the extraordinary events when she and neighbors Jack and Max (both white) went “to the ice.” Playing near the creek behind their houses in early spring, the threesome step onto the ice; it cracks and they find themselves on a floe headed to sea. There is a sense of practicality, play, and adventure as the three drift further and further from home (and land). When their ice floe eventually becomes part of an ice pack, the stoic and curious friends continue to explore—summiting the craggy icy terrain and traveling to a stony mountain, where they happen upon an abandoned cabin. Cold, resourceful, and mildly optimistic, the three settle in for the winter by telling stories, singing songs, and eating from the store of canned fish balls, their dialog providing both humor and the logic behind their decision-making. In time, the sun reappears and the trio fashion a boat from wood scraps, their journey home as swift and remarkable as it is inevitable. When they arrive, it was as though they had never been gone. Translated from the Swedish, this slender and highly illustrated novel blends a straightforward telling and dreamlike quality to honor the imagination of children. (Ages 7-10)