Skeleton Woman
Ages 6^-9. The bones of a young woman long dead become tangled in the lines of an Inuit fisherman. In his ice house, the young man tenderly scrapes the coal and barnacles from the bones, thinking with compassion of the skeleton left alone at the bottom of the sea. While the fisherman sleeps, the skeleton rises, and singing the song of life, she becomes, once again, a living being. Villoldo bases this retelling on an oral version told to him by an Alaskan medicine woman and supplies short notes on some of the traditional art and handicrafts highlighted in the watercolor illustrations. His gentle text has a soothing rhythm that reflects the spirit of the tragic opening events, and his watercolors, in cool, soft sea colors, have the same soothing quality. A picture-book tale with wide appeal, this could also be used with older children, including students in junior high and high school.Janice Del Negro--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.