An unforgettable physical and emotional journey.
A vivid firsthand account of a hunting expedition that goes disastrously wrong.
Koonoo, from Pond Inlet in Nunavut, Canada, relates a page-turning story about a near-fatal caribou-hunting trip to Naujaat, 500 km to the southwest. A Parks Canada employee, he learned Inuit hunting and survival skills from his father, using them to provide for his wife and daughters. From shooting his first murre at age 3 to hunting hare, ptarmigan, seal, and caribou, Koonoo took pride in his ability to feed those he loved on a traditional, healthy diet. In 2015, when a shortage of caribou resulted in a hunting moratorium on Baffin Island, he set off alone for the Melville Peninsula. Despite careful preparations, a combination of bad weather, human error, and mechanical issues with his snowmobile led to his nearly perishing. This slim volume is rich in sensory details enhanced by beautiful, informative illustrations and photographs. Descriptions of family and community life, the landscape, and animal behavior are shared in straightforward but evocative prose. Even knowing that the author survives, readers will feel breathless anticipation as they follow his trek by foot through harsh conditions in search of help. He explains how to build an iglu, melt snow to create naturally filtered drinking water, shelter in a snow cave, and more. Speaking directly to Inuit readers in a way that instills pride in heritage, this work has broad appeal, especially for readers interested in wilderness survival narratives.
An unforgettable physical and emotional journey. (glossary, photo credits) (Nonfiction. 12-18)Pub Date: Oct. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-77227-430-1
Page Count: 37
Publisher: Inhabit Media
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2022
PERSPECTIVES
Clearly written, with heart and integrity, but lacking in substance: tasty but not very filling.
Melian, a chef, activist, and former Test Kitchen Manager at Bon Appétit, begins this brief memoir by recounting clearing out the freezer and finding and eating one last helping of her mother’s signature fish dish following her death.
Sharing this precious meal with her brother connected them emotionally and physically with their mother one last time. In other vignettes, she ties her love of food to her happy childhood in Argentina; memories of cooking with her cousins at her abuela’s house and, in particular, her abuela’s ravioles de seso; the revelation of a sidewalk vendor’s hot pretzel that she ate following her arrival in New York City to explore a new path after studying journalism in Buenos Aires; and the physical and mental strength she developed after going into business to sell her empanadas. Melian briefly alludes to her work bringing free food education to inner-city public schools, but the stories she shares here are overall more personal and primal—food as sustenance, not as a vehicle for social justice—which feels like a missed opportunity. She also references in passing the difficulties of being a woman in a male-dominated industry where being Latina and speaking English with an accent affected how she was treated. Each of the individual anecdotes stands alone, without a narrative arc connecting them, but the descriptions of food are rich in sensory detail.
Clearly written, with heart and integrity, but lacking in substance: tasty but not very filling. (Memoir. 12-18)Pub Date: Jan. 4, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-22349-9
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2021
A powerful reminder of a history that is all too timely today.
A beautifully heart-wrenching graphic-novel adaptation of actor and activist Takei’s (Lions and Tigers and Bears, 2013, etc.) childhood experience of incarceration in a World War II camp for Japanese Americans.
Takei had not yet started school when he, his parents, and his younger siblings were forced to leave their home and report to the Santa Anita Racetrack for “processing and removal” due to President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9066. The creators smoothly and cleverly embed the historical context within which Takei’s family’s story takes place, allowing readers to simultaneously experience the daily humiliations that they suffered in the camps while providing readers with a broader understanding of the federal legislation, lawsuits, and actions which led to and maintained this injustice. The heroes who fought against this and provided support to and within the Japanese American community, such as Fred Korematsu, the 442nd Regiment, Herbert Nicholson, and the ACLU’s Wayne Collins, are also highlighted, but the focus always remains on the many sacrifices that Takei’s parents made to ensure the safety and survival of their family while shielding their children from knowing the depths of the hatred they faced and danger they were in. The creators also highlight the dangerous parallels between the hate speech, stereotyping, and legislation used against Japanese Americans and the trajectory of current events. Delicate grayscale illustrations effectively convey the intense emotions and the stark living conditions.
A powerful reminder of a history that is all too timely today. (Graphic memoir. 14-adult)Pub Date: July 16, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-60309-450-4
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Top Shelf Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 4, 2019
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