Baseball Bats for Christmas
Description
An authentic tale about children living in the Arctic by one of the most acclaimed Inuit storytellers.
Life in the high Arctic is beautifully captured in this classic picture book by award-winning Inuit author Michael Arvaarluk Kusugak. The year is 1955 and Arvaarluk and his friends watch as Rocky Parsons lands his plane on the ice in Repulse Bay, a tiny community “smack dab on the Arctic Circle.” Having never seen trees before, the children try to guess what the six green spindly things are that Rocky delivers. One of the boys has a brilliant idea: why not use them as baseball bats? Full of vibrant, richly-colored illustrations, this story gives young readers ages 5 to 8 a glimpse into a time, place, and culture that may be new to them. The Arctic way of life is realistically portrayed by the author, whose narrative voice resonates with the lilt of his native language, Inuktitut.
Reviews
The original edition received the following honors:
· Greatest Canadian Books of the Century List, Vancouver Public Library
· 100 Best Books List, Toronto Public Library
·100 Best Canadian Kids’ Books, Today’s Parent Magazine
·Ruth Schwartz Award finalist“Kusugak’s first-person narration is warm, energetic, and wonderfully humorous. The story sprawls out anecdotally ... a stand-out season winner.” —Quill & Quire
“A charming book that offers a glimpse into Inuit life in 1955.”
- The Ladybug Reads, 12/14/20