Atuk

This is the tale of an Inuit boy who is inseparable from his little sled-dog, Taruk. One day, Taruk is killed by a wolf, and the bereaved boy is consumed with grief and the desire to kill the wolf. But he must grow bigger and stronger before he can exact revenge, and as the winters and summers come and go, he grows as tall as the beech tree and becomes increasingly skilled as a huntsman, until finally, he finds and kills the wolf. But he learns that nothing is changed. Now his dog is dead and the wolf is dead, and the tundra lies empty and silent. He is even sadder than before. As he searches for new meaning in his life, he finds it in a little flower which he befriends and protects.

This is a quietly moving tale, rooted in our relationship to the natural world. The illustrations nicely catch the tone of the text; the sensitive white line, etched out of a textured background, has echoes of ancient cave-wall paintings. Just occasionally, weak design breaks the spell, with too much white space facing some of the single-page illustrations, but by and large, this is a convincing and rewarding read.