Does This Look Green To You? You May Need to Adjust Your Monitor

Two new books, both by Americans, look at the island of Greenland in fiction and in fact, in the past as well as in the present.

• First, the fiction: Rebecca Stead's First Light tells the story of Peter and Thea and their adventures in northern Greenland. Only Peter comes to Greenland from New York, and Thea's family has lived under the ice of Greenland for generations. When these two meet, it's not as bizarre as it may appear. Stead tells their stories clearly and with a good pace, avoiding the potential pitfall of describing an environment that to outsider might seem too uniform.
• Now for the nonfiction: Russell Freedman has had a long career of writing wonderful nonfiction. His Lincoln: A Photobiography won the Newbery Medal in 1988, and the hits haven't stopped coming. His latest book, Who Was First? Discovering the Americas, is another in this long list of wonderful excursions. While Freedman doesn't really tell us exactly who was first, his look at the history of human migration to the Americas is fascinating. The chapter "Leif the Lucky" tells the tale of The Vinland Sagas, recounting how Leif Eriksson sailed from Greenland to parts of what is today Canada. Archaeological digs have confirmed a Viking settlement on Newfoundland, but there is much more to tell.