Kirkus Reviews QR Code
THE EYE OF THE NEEDLE by Teri--Adapt. & Illus. Sloat Kirkus Star

THE EYE OF THE NEEDLE

By

Pub Date: Sept. 1st, 1990
Publisher: Dutton

Based on a Yupik tale as told by Betty Huffman"" (who, like Sloat, has been a teacher in Yupik villages in Alaska), this is the story of greedy little Amik, sent to hunt food for his hungry grandmother but so hungry himself that he swallows everything he catches--tiny needlefish, seal, walrus, even mighty whale. Full at last, Amik returns ruefully to his grandmother, but he's too large to fit through the door. Undaunted, she tells him to come in through the eye of her needle--whereupon his whole catch swims forth for grandmother to share with the neighbors. Sloat, whose From Letter to Letter (1989) was a splendid debut, brings the same fine sense of design and wealth of intriguing detaft to her second book. Her soft pencil illustrations are enriched with the mellow tones of earth and sea, while she makes creative use of variously sized and shaped frames. An authentic, wall-told, satisfying story, handsomely illustrated and produced.