The Very, Very Far North

Set in an extremely remote Arctic landscape where compasses fail and the familiar rules of geography tangle, the story follows Duane, a polar bear with a kind heart and a curious nature, as he settles into a new home and builds a circle of friends. The narrative unfolds in episodic chapters, each centered on a distinct adventure or encounter.

One Thursday, Duane lumbers into the Very, Very Far North from somewhere else. He discovers a beach perfect for his three favorite activities: napping, eating, and exploring. He notices an old shipwreck off the coast and swims out to investigate. Deep inside the ship, he follows a voice speaking Latin and finds a snowy owl reading from a large book. The owl identifies Duane as a polar bear by showing him a drawing, then leads him to a large, unoccupied rock cave near the beach. Duane mistakes two ornate capital Cs painted on the owl's door for two round eyes and calls her "See-See." The owl, who had no prior name, adopts the name as "C.C." and tells Duane he is good at giving names, establishing a pattern he repeats with nearly all his future friends. From his new cave, Duane spots a musk ox in the field below, staring at his own reflection in a pond.

Over the following weeks, Duane furnishes his cave with items ferried from the Shipwreck on a small boat he names the Wreck-less. Each trip past the musk ox's field brings long interruptions, as the musk ox peppers him with questions while Duane struggles under the weight of furniture. On a final rummage, he discovers a grandfather clock that has lost its hands and can no longer tell time. C.C. protests that the clock is purposeless, but Duane takes it home, reasoning that because it cannot say when something will or will not happen, it "will suggest possibilities, and that's always exciting." That night, listening to its tick-tock, he reflects that clocks are interested not in now but in later, in the certainty that something will happen even if one cannot know what.

One autumn morning, Duane sets out to explore beyond the river east of his cave and invites the musk ox along. The musk ox frets about his freezing reflection pond and doubts his appearance when he cannot see himself. Duane reassures him and proposes the name "Handsome," which the musk ox, deeply moved, accepts. At the river, Handsome declines to swim but makes extravagant boasts about loving to explore. Duane takes these at face value and leads them on a strenuous hike upstream, where they find stepping stones crossing the river at its narrowest point.

On the far side, Major Puff, a puffin who claims descent from military heroes but has never seen battle, hears Handsome's distressed shouts and mistakes the large, black-haired musk ox for a great black-backed gull, the puffins' ancestral enemy. He blocks Handsome's path with battle cries while hopping backward, since the most important puffin tactic is the retreat. Handsome, exhausted, confesses to Duane that he exaggerated his love of exploring and wants to go home. Fueled by annoyance at Major Puff, he crosses the remaining stones and marches straight back. Major Puff decides to migrate south.

Winter arrives, and the Cold, Cold Ocean freezes into the Mainly Frozen Ocean. On a sunny morning, Duane shares an icicle pop with C.C. on the beach. When he sighs contentedly, C.C., who struggles to interpret emotions, assumes he is bored and prepares to leave. Duane reaches out to touch her wing, but she flinches and says she does not like to be touched. He apologizes and explains his sigh was a happy one, a concept new to C.C. They reach an understanding: Duane will remember not to touch, and C.C. will recognize happy sighs. Later, C.C. proposes a taste experiment. Together they crush icicles, mix in berries, and create a frozen treat Duane names a Snow Delight. Wanting to hug C.C. in gratitude, Duane catches himself and instead smiles and blinks three times. C.C. blinks three times back, their personal shorthand for thank you and you're welcome.

On a Tuesday, Duane explores in the opposite direction from his cave. A sudden blizzard descends, and he digs for shelter. His clawing strikes a buried wall; through a peephole he sees firelight. He breaks through and finds a young girl in a bright red parka tending a fire, accompanied by sled dogs who call themselves the Pack. In the morning, they part with a hug, and Duane names her Sun Girl.

Later, on the path to Handsome's afternoon tea party, Duane is spooked by invisible voices from alternating snowbanks. C.C. helps him prepare blue powder to reveal the source. The powder exposes an arctic fox whose white fur, invisible against the snow, is now dyed blue. She reveals secret tunnels under the hills that let her appear and disappear at will. Duane names her Magic and brings her to the tea, where he presents Handsome with an ornate hand mirror so Handsome can see his reflection even when the pond is frozen.

Magic becomes a regular presence in Duane's life, bossy yet playful. She finds a toboggan on the Shipwreck and pressures Duane into riding it down Baby Whaleback Hill, an enormous bump-covered mountain. Duane's inner voice tells him to refuse, but Magic's confidence overrides his judgment. Midway through the terrifying descent, Magic panics and throws herself into the snow. Duane, alone on the runaway toboggan, launches off Whaleback Hill into the sky and falls, only to be caught by Sun Girl and the Pack in a stretched blanket. Duane acknowledges he knew the ride was dangerous but went along to impress a friend. During weeks of recovery, he forgives Magic but resolves not to forget how to say no.

In spring, Major Puff returns from migration and discovers an arctic hare occupying a spotless burrow. The hare, anxious and twitchy but warm, praises his bravery, words he has never heard from anyone else. Flattered, he accepts her offer to share. Duane later meets the hare, names her Twitch, and learns Major Puff stays close to the burrow because he still fears Handsome is a great black-backed gull. Duane devises an elaborate plan: He tricks Handsome into rushing to the river to help Twitch, who has tangled herself in weeds as part of the ruse, while Magic lures Major Puff out by screaming that a hare is under attack. At the river, C.C., disguised as a great black-backed gull, swoops down and snatches Major Puff in her talons. Duane catches him and shows him book illustrations of a gull and a musk ox side by side. Major Puff finally understands the difference and apologizes to Handsome, who graciously accepts.

During his second summer, Duane meets a painter camped on a cliff, whom he names Squint. Watching waves appear on the canvas, Duane believes the man is literally capturing the ocean and races to the Shipwreck to warn C.C. She calmly explains that a painting depicts its subject without making the real thing vanish. Duane and Sun Girl later notice something missing from Squint's paintings: the inhabitants of the Very, Very Far North.

A shy caribou quietly appears near Handsome's field. Following Magic's paradoxical advice to meet the stranger by not trying, Duane and his friends chat casually near her without pressure. One day the caribou whispers that thunder scares her. Duane offers the name Boo, and she smiles in approval.

Near the book's end, Duane watches Squint paint a sparkling iceberg and realizes that capturing it on canvas preserves it forever, even after the real iceberg melts. He remarks that his handless grandfather clock would have something to say about time and preservation.

In the final chapter, Duane attempts a record belly-slide across the frozen river but crashes into Sun Girl's fishing hole, wedging in from the waist down. Sun Girl gathers his friends. They tie a rope around Duane, and Major Puff commands the heaving until Duane pops free. Twitch invites everyone to her burrow for tea and Snow Delights. Duane lingers behind, grinning: He will soon be surrounded by friends, telling an interesting story and eating blackberry Snow Delights. The narrator compares the future's uncertainty to Duane's handless grandfather clock: It can only say what is happening now, and everything else is just possibility. The book closes with a letter from Duane to the reader, inviting them to visit the Very, Very Far North and offering to give them a name.