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THE SNOWSTORM

Name: THE SNOWSTORM
Author: Jørn Riel
ISBN: 978-1-84686-797-2

From the Inuk Quartet series , Vol. 3

by Jørn Riel & illustrated by Helen Cann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 2012

Fledgling readers will enjoy this simply told, visually appealing historical tale, though starting with the first two...

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The third in a four-part Viking-era adventure pits four young Greenlanders against both a howling gale and a crew of brutal pirates.

Signs of spring coming to his adopted Arctic send Leiv, his Inuit brother-and-sister companions Apuluk and Narua, and rescued serf Sølvi sledding northward in search of the vanished chieftain Thorstein. Cann's frequent vignettes of people and wildlife add graceful visual notes to Riel's vivid depiction of life in this harsh ("They hammered blubber for the lamps....") but often beautiful setting. The explorers weather a journey highlighted by a violent, two-day storm, followed by an equally violent battle aboard an iced-in British longship after Leiv and Apuluk are captured. The return home is made even more joyous when the closely bonded quartet stages a double elopement to kick off a second trek north in search of a passage to the fabled country to the west.

Fledgling readers will enjoy this simply told, visually appealing historical tale, though starting with the first two episodes will make it easier to follow the developing characters and storyline. (Historical fiction. 9-11)

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2012

ISBN: 978-1-84686-797-2

Page Count: 128

Publisher: Barefoot Books

Review Posted Online: July 24, 2012

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2012

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ACTION & ADVENTURE FICTION | CHILDREN'S HISTORICAL FICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE RAIDERS
by Jørn Riel illustrated by Helen Cann

- BOOK REVIEW
THE SHIPWRECK
by Jørn Riel & illustrated by Helen Cann

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THE PORCUPINE YEAR

From the Birchbark House series , Vol. 3

by Louise Erdrich ; illustrated by Louise Erdrich ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2008

The journey is even gently funny—Omakayas’s brother spends much of the year with a porcupine on his head. Charming and...

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This third entry in the Birchbark House series takes Omakayas and her family west from their home on the Island of the Golden-Breasted Woodpecker, away from land the U.S. government has claimed.

Difficulties abound; the unknown landscape is fraught with danger, and they are nearing hostile Bwaanag territory. Omakayas’s family is not only close, but growing: The travelers adopt two young chimookoman (white) orphans along the way. When treachery leaves them starving and alone in a northern Minnesota winter, it will take all of their abilities and love to survive. The heartwarming account of Omakayas’s year of travel explores her changing family relationships and culminates in her first moon, the onset of puberty. It would be understandable if this darkest-yet entry in Erdrich’s response to the Little House books were touched by bitterness, yet this gladdening story details Omakayas’s coming-of-age with appealing optimism.

The journey is even gently funny—Omakayas’s brother spends much of the year with a porcupine on his head. Charming and enlightening. (Historical fiction. 9-11)

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2008

ISBN: 978-0-06-029787-9

Page Count: 208

Publisher: HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2008

Categories:

CHILDREN'S FAMILY | CHILDREN'S HISTORICAL FICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
MAKOONS
by Louise Erdrich ; illustrated by Louise Erdrich

- BOOK REVIEW
CHICKADEE
by Louise Erdrich

- BOOK REVIEW
THE GAME OF SILENCE
by Louise Erdrich ; illustrated by Louise Erdrich

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KNIGHTS VS. DINOSAURS

by Matt Phelan ; illustrated by Matt Phelan ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 23, 2018

Epic—in plot, not length—and as wise and wonderful as Gerald Morris’ Arthurian exploits.

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Who needs dragons when there are Terrible Lizards to be fought?

Having recklessly boasted to King Arthur and the court that he’d slain 40 dragons, Sir Erec can hardly refuse when Merlin offers him more challenging foes…and so it is that in no time (so to speak), Erec, with bookish Sir Hector, the silent and enigmatic Black Knight, and blustering Sir Bors with his thin but doughty squire, Mel, in tow, are hewing away at fearsome creatures sporting natural armor and weapons every bit as effective as knightly ones. Happily, while all the glorious mashing and bashing leads to awesome feats aplenty—who would suspect that a ravening T. Rex could be decked by a well-placed punch to the jaw?—when the dust settles neither bloodshed nor permanent injury has been dealt to either side. Better yet, not even the stunning revelation that two of the Three Stooges–style bumblers aren’t what they seem (“Anyone else here a girl?”) keeps the questers from developing into a well-knit team capable of repeatedly saving one another’s bacon. Phelan endows the all-white human cast with finely drawn, eloquently expressive faces but otherwise works in a loose, movement-filled style, pitting his clanking crew against an almost nonstop onslaught of toothy monsters in a monochrome mix of single scenes and occasional wordless sequential panels.

Epic—in plot, not length—and as wise and wonderful as Gerald Morris’ Arthurian exploits. (Graphic/fantasy hybrid. 9-11)