NUKI

However authentic they may be, it is discouraging when Eskimo stories continue to sound remarkably like tales of a typical American family which has been somehow transplanted to the arctic. This one is a year in the life of an eleven year old boy. Nuki. During its course Nuki goes on his first seal hunt, is temporarily bereaved when his father Kalingo is believed lost on the ice, teases his young sister, escapes killer whales in his kayak, kills an angry bull walrus which he can bring home proudly to his mother, and so forth. In themselves, the events are thrilling, but an unfortunately babyish narration, that all but predicts each thing before it happens, kills reality and turns the Eskimos into Pollyannas. Kurt Werth's heavily accented drawings show the northern characteristics well.