IF YOU WANT TO SEE A CARIBOU

Root changes pace from her rousing Big Momma Makes the World (2003) with this subdued, reflective invitation to visit one of the islands in Lake Superior where the now-endangered woodland caribou can be spotted. Meyers captures her tone with woodcuts that resemble silkscreen prints in colors and textures, depicting two small human visitors pulling up to shore in a rubber raft, walking through patches of open forest and meadow, then sitting quietly near a beach until a caribou cow and calf drift into view. Despite a somewhat inscrutable closer (“. . . you have seen a caribou. And a caribou knows your name”), this low-key communion with nature will draw in sensitive readers, and gets Meyer off to a promising start as an illustrator. (afterword) (Picture book. 6-8)