Vanishing Cultures: Far North
Grade 3-6-- A photo essay that gives insight into the Sami culture in Finmark (or Lapland). Reynolds portrays a family working to preserve a slowly dying, nomadic way of life in the harsh land above the Arctic Circle. The documentation of the Utsi family, which includes the parents and two young daughters, begins in early spring when the family rounds up the reindeer to herd them to the high mountains. The full-color photography is striking, and the bond between master and reindeer is very evident. No explanation is given as to why work clothes are as elabolately decorated as those the Samis don for the spring celebration, and there is no mention of schooling. The author's postscript gives a chilling account of how the Chernobyl nuclear disaster impacted the unsuspecting Samis and affected their centuries-old way of life. The strength of this book is not as a primary source for reports but as a lovely photographic introduction to a vanishing people. --Mollie Bynum, Chester Valley Elem . School, Anchorage, AKCopyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.