Review by Booklist Review
Brothers Joe and Cody, their parents, and Cody's dog, Ootsie, spend each summer near one of the hundreds of lakes in northern Manitoba, Canada. By naming and playing with sticks, stones, and even small animals, the brothers have no shortage of available friends. Their favorite activity is flying dragonfly kites, created by gently tying a thread around a dragonfly's body and running behind their captives wherever they lead. Originally published in 2002, this updated version possesses the necessary elements for a successful multicultural title: Highway's story (part of his Magical Songs of the North Wind trilogy, featuring Joe and Cody) is bilingually presented in English and Cree, while Flett's new illustrations of the vast outdoors are atmospheric gems. That said, the story's disturbing core can't be ignored: dragonfly kites are not humane. Even as the dragonflies are eventually released, the still-attached long threads don't bode well for natural survival. Sensitive children might eschew this promising story; offering kinder options could prove necessary.--Hong, Terry Copyright 2016 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Written in English and Cree, this second book in Highway's Magical Songs of the North trilogy, first published in Canada in 2002, gains new artwork from Flett (Wild Berries). The story follows brothers Joe and Cody as they play games along a Manitoba lakeshore, where they spend summers in a tent with their mother, father, and dog, Ootsie, "who was almost a person." Much of the boys' activity revolves around creating names and stories for various objects and animals they discover, but their favorite game involves gently tying strings around dragonflies, turning them into living kites. Although that particular "game" may give some children and adults pause, Highway's matter-of-fact text and Flett's crisp, gently textured forms create a loving portrait of a family in communion with their environment. Ages 6-up. (Apr.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Horn Book Review
Highways bilingual English/Cree story (originally published in Canada in 2002) has been reissued with new illustrations by Flett, an artist of Cree-Mtis ancestry. Brothers Joe and Codywith their papa and mama and doglive in the far north, their summer home a tent on one of Manitobas many hundreds of lakes. There are beautiful islands and forests and beaches and clear water. But no people. The boys give names to sticks and stones, rabbits, chipmunks, squirrels and even ants; but their favorite pets are dragonflies, which they fly like magic kites on pieces of thread. For hours the boys follow their dragonfly kites, until finally they set them freeonly to find them again in their dreams, leading the boys up, over, and into the ecstatic beauty and freedom of the gold and pink of the northern sunset. Highways text has a graceful simplicity, evoking the deep pleasure of brothers at play in a serene, remote setting. Fletts art enhances those qualities: the seemingly empty stillness of water and light, the dark expanse of meadows, are pricked into liveliness by tiny petals and the luminous white of a flower, or the delicate membrane of a dragonflys wing. The elegant page design cleanly incorporates the English and Cree texts. deirdre f. baker (c) Copyright 2016. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A bilingual English/Cree picture book describes the lakeside summer idylls of brothers Joe and Cody. Living with their parents in a tent on the shores of Manitoba's northern lakes, the First Nations boys have little human company, but they are far from alone. There's Ootsie, the little dog "who was almost a person," and the sticks and rocks they name and play with. They make temporary pets of wildlife, too: Arctic tern, loon, and eagle chicks, along with "the squirrels and the rabbits and the chipmunks that ate from their hands"; each creature is carefully named, sometimes with an English name and sometimes with a Cree one. Highway's text is spare and declarative, carefully isolating child-friendly details that brim with gentle humor. One eagle chick is named "Migisoo, which means eagle' in Cree," while the other is "named Wagisoo, which doesn't mean anything but rhymes with Migisoo." Flett's equally spare signature style is a perfect match, placing black-haired, brown-skinned boys in shorts and Chucks against dark green grass and chilly-looking blue water. The titular kites are the boys' "favourite pets": dragonflies with long pieces of thread tied "gently around the middle of each." They run along with the dragonflies before letting them go over the lake. The English text is printed in black, with the Cree text printed in brick-red beneath it; both are by Highway himself. At once a celebration of heritage, the wilderness, and imagination, this book is a breath of fresh northern air. (Picture book. 5-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
