(2) 4-6 Photographs by Roy Corral. Twenty years after Children of the Midnight Sun, Brown and Corral present ten additional portraits of contemporary Alaska Native children. Each Indigenous child receives two spreads telling about his or her daily life and culture. The book is strongest when centering the voices of the featured young people and their family members. Clear photographs of people, places, flora, and fauna enliven the workmanlike text. Glos.

Reviewer: Elissa Gershowitz | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2019

(3) 4-6 Illustrated by Mindy Dwyer. When Granddaughter rushes and spills blueberries, Grandmother explains how trickster raven Chulyen's nose became bent because he hurried. After Chulyen loses his beak, an old woman uses it as a tool; Chulyen steals his nose back, but without noticing it's now worn and crooked. Sprightly comic-style art and the inclusion of Dena'ina words make this an engaging retelling from southern Alaska. Reading list. Glos.

Reviewer: Bridget McCaffrey

(4) YA After his father's death, Sam's homesteader family relocates from rural Alaska to Anchorage in 1965. Left largely to his own devices in this vastly different environment, the fourteen-year-old falls into questionable company and is lured into recklessness that nearly leads to disaster. Walker's folksy, poetic writing can be superb ("kids I'd been babies with, like we were hairs on the same head") but not always kidlike.

Reviewer: Miriam Lang Budin

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Jon Van Zyle. Little Puffin is born on a cliffside and cared for by his parents until the time comes for him to strike out on his own. In a lyrical text, London traces the life cycle of a horned puffin, from mating to nesting to first flight; Van Zyle's somewhat fuzzy paintings alternate close-up views of the birds with sweeping landscapes. An author's note provides more information.

Reviewer: Hannah Rodgers Barnaby

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Sarah Martinsen. Everyone in his Inupiaq village says he's old enough this year, but Charlie doesn't know if he's brave enough to fly so high in the air at the Whaling Festival's sealskin blanket toss. The gentle rite-of-passage story incorporates Inupiaq words and customs, and the expressive illustrations with muted colors neatly convey Charlie's world and eventual toss. An author's note adds context. Glos.

Reviewer: Bridget McCaffrey

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Jon Van Zyle. North American river otter pup Ollie is born in spring; during their first year he and his littermates play and learn to swim and hunt. In winter, Ollie slides down a snowbank into a rushing river and gets swept away, but all ends happily. Painterly illustrations portray the otters and their habitat through the seasons. An author's note provides information about otters.

Reviewer: Katie Bircher

(2) K-3 When "chunks of ice as big as houses" jam on their passage to the sea, Kumak and his neighbors perch on their roofs in the warm spring air while the river rises around their houses. Children rejoice in a school-free day, and the cheery line and watercolor vistas of smiling Iñupiat, dogs, and gulls enjoying their adventure are a fine match for the well-paced text.

Reviewer: Joanna Rudge Long | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2013

(2) K-3 Kumak loads his family onto their sled--it looks like a good day for fish. In this delightful Inupiat variant on the tale of the enormous turnip, when Kumak eventually hooks something, the whole village helps pull it in. The illustrations give a sense of the icy setting and the joyful energy of the people, and the story comes to a funny, triumphant conclusion.

Reviewer: Susan Dove Lempke | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2004

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Teri Sloat. After hearing the old women complain about crowberries--the dry, tasteless berries growing on the tundra--young Anana constructs four dolls in different colors. On the moonlit tundra, she enchants the dolls, making them come alive and tumble down the hill, leaving delicious blueberries, cranberries, salmonberries, and raspberries in their wake. Jubilant illustrations accompany this well-paced pourquoi tale.

Reviewer: Bridget McCaffrey

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Barbara Lavallee. When Kristie's beloved cat, Groucho, who is white but for dramatic smudgelike eyebrows, gets lost in the snow, his distinguishing characteristic helps her find him after an agonizing search. Though the text is a bit long, Kristie and Groucho's mutual affection is palpable, and the soft, lucid images of snow-decked Alaska are alluring.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Bill Farnsworth & Bill Farnsworth. Anna, a small sled dog, learns how to lead the pack, and helps to rescue another member of the pack before she, in turn, falls through the ice and needs to be rescued herself. Based on Pam Flowers's sled dog expedition across the top of North America, the topic of the book is compelling, but the story, accompanied by realistic illustrations, is rendered in clichéd language.

Reviewer: Jim St. Claire

(4) K-3 Kumak and his family feel cramped in their small house. When he asks Aana Lulu for advice, she tells him to invite more and more Arctic animals to live with them. Only when he kicks out all the visitors does the house feel "just right." Amusing illustrations show--and a lengthy author's note describes--the northwest Arctic setting and traditional Inupiat activities. There are no source notes given for this familiar folktale.

Reviewer: Bridget McCaffrey

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Mindy Dwyer. Each double-page spread features a boy and girl's rhyming assessment of the season ("Winter is cold, / sending shivers down deep. / In thick, furry coats / the wild animals sleep") set against a cool-color-rich backdrop. The rhymes aren't original, but Dwyer's watercolor images, especially of frost on the window and the northern lights against the night sky, are enticing.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(3) 4-6 [author2=with] Pam Flowers left Alaska with her team of eight sled dogs to traverse the Arctic of northern Canada, enduring extreme cold and danger. Readers will admire Flowers for her obvious love for her dogs (all arrived safely), as well as for her own wry sense of humor. Black-and-white photos, diary entries, and boxed asides about Arctic survival fill out the gripping account. Glos., ind.

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam

(4) 4-6 Illustrated by Howard "Weyahok" Rock. Written and illustrated over sixty years ago, these stories of a nineteenth-century Inupiat Eskimo boy are published now for the first time. In a series of vignettes, Neeluk trades his cap for a puppy, spears his first fish, and awaits the arrival of a trading ship. Though the dated writing style strains to include too much factual information, the stories capture an intriguing time and place in history. Bib., glos.

Reviewer: Peter D. Sieruta

(4) 1-3 Softly colored, gently stylized illustrations show Katy and her mother, along with their cat, snowed in at their cozy northland cabin. Katy and Mom memorialize Katy's grandmother by completing a quilt Gram had cut out for Katy before she died. Dwyer's text, though occasionally labored and wordy, is a contemporary ode to quilts--their patterns, creators, and the way they provide a link between generations.

Reviewer: Frieda F. Bostian

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Evon Zerbetz. When a family goes blueberry picking, "somewhere between the top of Ptarmigan Mountain and the bottom," Baby loses his shoe. A vole, a fox, and a bear all in turn find and lose the red Ked. During the following summer's blueberry picking, guess what Baby (now toddler) finds again? Appealing linocuts on delicate leaf impression backgrounds convey the animals and landscape of the northwest woods.

Reviewer: Bridget McCaffrey

(2) 4-6 Photographs by Roy Corral. In her survey of children from eight different Alaskan Native groups, Brown focuses not on "customs," but on daily life, with a welcome dollop of history that gives the portraits depth and context. The tone is upbeat and tourist-friendly, but the kids are distinct, and Corral's many sharp color photos reveal both people and place unguarded. A good clear map is included. Bib., glos.

Reviewer: The Horn Book, Inc.

(3) 4-6 Photographs by Roy Corral. Though written (with Hannah's input) by her mother, this description of a family kayaking trip along the coastline of Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve is narrated by thirteen-year-old Hannah. The result is a somewhat precocious-sounding, though engaging, travelogue, one enlivened by an eye-catching design and outstanding color photographs of Alaskan wildlife and landscapes.

Reviewer: The Horn Book, Inc.

(3) 1-3 Illustrated by David Rubin. Five-year-old Kitaq, a contemporary Yup'ik boy, has never been ice fishing. Although it's a long day of walking in the cold, his grandfather agrees that Kitaq is old enough to go. The oil paintings capture the brilliant colors of the region, Kitaq's excitement, and how proud his parents and grandfather are of him. The narrative is complemented by a lengthy note about the Yup'ik village of Kwethluk. Glos.

Reviewer: Debbie Reese