In the heroic style of Martin and Shannon's The Rough-Face Girl (1992), a fairly elaborate expansion of ``a very short story told by the Chinook people of the Northwest Coast.'' A little boy playing by the water disappears; his grieving parents don't see him again until, years later, after a woman from another tribe espies him among the seals. Captured, the seal-like boy reluctantly tries to adapt, meanwhile learning to carve exquisitely decorated canoes. Then he escapes once again to the seals; but each year his parents find, as a gift, a beautiful new canoe. Martin's extended text has the yearning, bittersweet tone of tales like the selkie stories, where a character is torn between two worlds. In Shannon's carefully composed paintings, the nobly dignified ``People'' are set against backgrounds celebrating the austere beauty of forest and sea. A handsome setting for a satisfyingly dramatic tale. (Folklore/Picture book. 5-10)
