ADALINC’S LIBRARY TREASURES #4
It is time to share our treasures from our latest haul from the library. With three children the book haul keeps getting bigger and bigger and more varied. The two books that stood out this time both have cultural significance and memorable illustrations and would be great additions for anyone looking for diversity in their library or book collection.
Book One
Title: Missuk’s Snow Geese
Author: Anne Renaud
Illustrator: Genevieve Cote
Publisher: Simple Read Books
Date: 2008
Recommended Ages: 4-8
Summary:
Missuk’s Snow Geese is a beautifully crafted story about a little girl named Missuk who wants to carve soap stone geese just like her father. The reader is introduced to the fine details of living in northern Canada and aspects of daily life as seen from a little girl’s (Missuk) point of view. We learn what is needed to go hunting when Missuk helps her dad pack the dogsled with spears, seal meat for the dogs and dried fish for her father. Missuk then spends part of her day inside the igloo helping her mom make mittens from seal skin using a needle made from caribou bone. But Missuk would rather carve soapstone like her father but becomes frustrated when she can’t carve the birds as her father does. She takes a break by leaving the igloo and exploring her natural environment in the frozen tundra. She stops to rest on a hilltop and lays in the snow and delights in the snow geese flying above her that she pretends to fly like them and moves her arms in the snow creating snow geese carving in the snow. For hours she makes a game out of repeating this beautiful pattern. When the weather takes a fierce turn she returns home. Both Missuk and her mother wait in the igloo for her father to return trying not to worry. Eventually Missuk falls asleep with fitful nightmares about what might be happening to her father only to wake up to find her father in the igloo. Once father awakes he tells Missuk and his wife his story of hunting the caribou and how the weather blew in and turned everything white. As he was trying to find his way home he found a trail of snow geese carved in the snow and followed it all the way back to the igloo.
 |
| Missuk’s Snow Geese |
I loved so many things about this book. The beautiful illustrations take us through the frozen hinterland of Northern Canada to show readers that there is so much more than white snow. We gain a glimpse into daily life of those who live there, not only the majestic beauty, but also the harsh reality of living in this environment. This book would be a fabulous addition to any units studying the Inuit, or Northern Canada. I was hooked by the opening page which begins ‘This story happened many springs ago in the land under the Northern Lights, home to the snow geese, the polar bear and the caribou.’ This book is a definite 5 out 5.
Book Two
 |
| Ahmed and the Feather Girl by Jane Ray |
Title: Ahmed and the Feather Girl
Author: Jane Ray
Illustrator: Jane Ray
Publisher: Francis Lincoln Limited
Date: 2010
Recommended Ages: 5-8
Summary:
The vibrant and enriched illustrations in Ahmed and the Feather Girl tells the folk tale of how an imprisoned boy working for a cruel circus owner eventually finds freedom and love with a girl that hatches from a golden egg. One day Ahmed finds an egg in the forest and brings it back to the circus only to have the cruel circus owner, Madame Saleem, snatch the egg and lock it in a cage. One day the egg hatches into a beautiful girl and Madame Saleem selfishly keeps her locked up and charges money for people to see the girl. From a distance Ahmed keeps a close eye on the girl and at night sleeps right beside her cage. After a while the beautiful girl grows wings and Madame Saleem charges even more to see the girl. Soon the girl is very sad from being caged all the time. She longs to sing with the other birds and be free to soar through the air. Ahmed decides to free the beautiful girl but in doing so he is further punishment by Madame Saleem. Each night after Ahmed dreams of the beautiful girl and each morning he finds a feather clutched in his hands. In the end the girl returns to free Ahmed with his own cloak of feathers and they both fly free beyond the stars.
 |
| Ahmed and the Feather Girl by Anne Ray |
What a beautiful folk story. I loved how the girl mirrors Ahmed real life of feeling caged and even though it will mean losing the only thing he loves he still sets her free. Then she returns to save him and free him from his cage as well. This book is also a 5 out of 5 that will delight children ages 5-8.
I hope you enjoyed my Treasure Book Tuesday finds. Here are some of the other finds my children or I have found enjoyable from the library.
Cheers,
Bonnie
