The Raven's Gift: A True Story from Greenland
In her first book for children, Dupre briefly describes her husband's 3,200-mile expedition around Earth's largest island by kayak, skis and dogsled. She makes the daunting Arctic journey comprehensible for young readers with engaging linoleum block prints that chronicle his trek and by zeroing in on his moving encounter with a raven. Primitivist images with thick black outlines recall the art of the Inuit people that her husband, Lonnie, so admires ("I have watched them make beautiful, warm fur clothing by hand and build perfectly fitted kayaks using only their arms and legs for measuring tools"). Spot illustrations depict indigenous wildlife, such as the narwhal, musk oxen and Arctic tern, while sidebars explain the history of the culture and the land (e.g., "The Inuit have lived throughout the Arctic regions for more than 3,000 years"). At the center of the volume is the tale of Lonnie's exchange with a raven, a legendary bird in those parts, whose foot was entangled and who allows the man close enough to free it; in the process, the bird gives him renewed resolve: "Every day I would look for ravens and remember the one who taught me that strength and spirit is in the land, in the sea, and in all living things." A fitting ode to a rough land and a resilient people. Ages 4-8.Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.