The Gift by Kristine L. Franklin & Illus Barbara Lavallee

Barbara Lavallee is an Alaskan artist that my mother fell in love with when I was a kid. We had prints of hers on our wall, trivets with her art, the mugs with her art were set in a separate place so my brothers and father wouldn't fill them with coffee and take them to some far flung part of the farm and leave them on fenceposts, under a tractor seat, or in the milkhouse. 

As a hangover from my childhood, anything Barbara Lavallee has illustrated has instantly become a bit special. I found this book on a library shelf in Anchorage last summer and had to check it out. With a 50 book limit* on our library card, we had to make some hard decisions about what we were and were not taking home with us, but this made the cut. 

(This may seem like a gigantic limit, but it had to supply four kids, as well as myself, so it actually was a little hard. Books had to be put back on the shelf and left behind, always a sad, sad thing.)

I was already in favor of the illustrator, but the story itself was well worth it as well--traditional native fishing villiage, elder wisdom, and amazement at nature. 

Jimmy Joe loved to fish, just like all the rest of his family. 

So Jimmy Joe heads over to "help" the fish woman catch some fish. They get everything ready to head out to fish. 

My cousin worked in a gift shop in Anchorage one summer and hated Barbara Lavallee due to the dividing line down the middle of the faces. Having been raised on these prints and illustrations, I never thought about it before. But there it is. In every face. 

Fish Woman has promised Jimmy Joe a salmon fishing expedition. Salmon in their richness and bounty hold a special place in the lives and imaginations of the native peoples of the Pacific Northwest/Alaska. Jimmy Joe is determined to catch the best, the biggest, and the most. 

Catching the fish and putting it on ice.

When he catches a fish and sees all its sparkling majesty snuffed out, Jimmy Joe is torn. He knows his mother wanted fish to eat, but how can he take this beautiful thing from the sea? 

Then!--the magic! The wolves of the sea appear. 

Deigning to show themselves is a gift from the sea. The wise Fish Woman and Jimmy Joe both recognize the honor. 

And suddenly, Jimmy Joe knows what to do with the magnificent fish he caught--return it as a gift to the orcas. 

This is a little confusing since he was hesitant to catch the fish and use it to feed his own family, but I guess being the meal of an orca is a bit more fascinating to a little boy than being the meal of a mere human. 

And he heads home--salmonless, but with an amazement and wonder of the sea. 

I like the practicality of this book--Jimmy Joe, while lamenting the necessity of killing such an amazing creature, also understands enough of nature to know the salmon can't escape being someone's meal. 

I love the Fish Woman helping him come to that realization. I like Jimmy Joe being allowed to spend time with (and wanting to spend time with) this elderly person who has so much wisdom and understanding to share with him. 

My Wilderness: An Alaskan Adventure by Claudia McGehee

This is the story of Rockwell Kent's year in Alaska, as told from the viewpoint of his nine year old son. 

Rockwell Kent is considered a local artist here in Northern New York, so it was fun to find this book in Alaska. I never knew he spent a winter in Alaska painting. 

Rocky and Rockwell spent a winter on Alaska's Fox Island in Resurrection Bay near Seward. The only other inhabitant of Fox Island was this man named Olson.

Rocky explored Fox Island, meeting the animal inhabitants.

Olson said they could use a run down old cabin, so they spent some time repairing the floor and stuffing moss in the gaps between logs. 

It is interesting to me that Rockwell Kent brought his nine year old son with him on this trip. A winter in Alaska where he was going to be focused on painting doesn't sound like a great father-son bonding idea. 

But clearly it worked! 

With his father busy, Rockwell had a lot of freedom, exploring the island and imagining all sorts of great adventures on his own. 

Was that a pirate ship he saw? 

Did he hear a wood troll coming along behind him?

But life was pretty safe and cozy on Fox Island. With Olson near by to drop in after supper with one of his goats and Seward only 14 miles by rowboat, they had as much society as they wanted. 

And the father-son bonding thing? It happened too. Which makes me like Rockwell Kent. Here they are playing checkers and doing tough and manly snow baths to keep clean--running out, laying in the snow and then rubbing down with snow to wash and zipping back inside.  

Rockwell did a lot of painting

And Rocky did a lot of experiencing in the cold Alaskan winter.

A scary rowboat trip from Seward.

Claudia McGehee creates her images using scratchboard and xacto knives. I love elemental quality of scratchboard--it looks almost primitive, but with so much detail and design.

Fox Island. Spring meant leaving this little Alaska oasis. 

"We left Fox Island behind, but the wilderness came to stay in my heart forever."

Moon Song by Mildred Plew Miegs & Illus by Garth Williams

Moon Song

Zoon, zoon, cuddle and croon--             

Over the crinkling sea,

The moon man flings him a silvered net  

Fashioned of moonbeams three.

And some folk say when the net lies long

And the midnight hour is ripe;

The moon man fishes for some old song   

That fell from a sailor's pipe. 

And some folks say that he fishes the bars

Down where the dead ships lie,

Looking for lost little baby stars               

That slid from the slippery sky. 

And the waves roll out and the waves roll in

And the nodding night wind blows,

But why the moon man fishes the sea          

Only the moon man knows. 

                                                                         --Mildred Plew Miegs

                                                                                                   From: The Tall Book of Fairy Tales

Float by Daniel Miyares

This is a wordless book about a boy sailing a newspaper boat  his father made for him on a rainy day. 

The endpapers tell you how to make the boat. Not sure if I could make a boat with these pictorial instructions, but someone with a slight engineer bent to their mind probably could. 

Sweet father-son togetherness.

The pictures are fairly monochromatic with pops of yellow, and I love them. 

Protecting his boat from the rain.

Finally it stops!

Awhile later is starts back up. Isn't that a downpour of a picture? Quite effective.

Puddle reflections.

Exuberance!

But then his boat takes off. 

Down the sewer drain! 

By the time it comes out the drain pipe, it is ruined. 

Oh the sadness of his ruined boat!

But Daddies make the world all right again!

Hot cocoa and some more newspaper. 

But this time, since the sun is out, they try a paper airplane. 

This is such a great book--following a little boy exploring his world, supported by his father, and print journalism. 

Newspapers are important! 

Michael Sails the Mud Hen by Peggy and Gordon Aymar & Illus by Robert Smith

This is a neat little book about sailing. It is called a "story-guide" on the title page. It is the story of Michael and his little brother Tim as they learn to sail. Gordon Aymar was an accomplished sailor with a few sailing books under his belt, when he and his wife teamed up for this book. This is actually based on an old abandoned boat Peggy and Gordon Jr. found when Jr was seven. 

Here sit Michael and Tim. And if that isn't a picture of summer boredom, I don't know what is. 

Meeting Captain Harry

When they are poking around the marshes, they find the Mud Hen. The man who owns the property says it isn't his boat, it just drifted up there, so they are welcome to her.

Captain Harry takes Michael and Tim on, to teach them to sail. 

First, they start with rowing. 

I love these nautical diagrams. 

Every good sailor needs to know a few knots.

Michael on his maiden rowing journey.

Bailing out the Mud Hen after a storm.

Another storm.

They graduate to sailing!

LOVE

I also love this. So 1960's vacationing housewife.

Michael gets to try out the rudder.

After some close observation and practice with Captain Harry, he lets them go up the inlet by themselves for practice.

Finally, Michael is approved for open bay sailing. The sheet breaks, but Michael handles it quite well.

And sails into harbor safe and sound.

This is a pretty good learning book. Some books are so heavy on the learning, they forget the plot, making them very heavy handed and clumsy. This one is quite a pleasant mix of plot and pointers.