Thursday, June 17, 2010

Jean Craighead George



I remember being introduced to this author at Teachers Training College. There I devoured two of her novels not realizing that there were more about Julie or that she also wrote picture books.



Although the part of the world this story takes place could not be more removed from the geography of the region we are studying(the Middle East) it somehow fits in with the season here(winter).



And reading about somewhere snowy and cold somehow makes a grey winters day seem more cozy!
Like all of Jean's books the language is rich and worthy of comment:the wind didn't just blow hard, it "bugled like a lost caribou calf".The town where Luke lived was "not more than a polar bear's trot from the North Pole." We are introduced to the culture of the Inupiat people through their language:""Alappaaq," he said to his teacher."It is cold." and their lives in relation to the cycle of the seasons:"They are telling us winter is coming,"Aalak said."And winter is very serious."

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