From Bunting (On Call Back Mountain, p. 138, etc.), a remarkably succinct and knowing "autobiography" of a mummy that provides the essence of life in the Egypt of the pharaohs, and which is strikingly illustrated by Christiana (The First Snow, 1996, etc.). The favored, beautiful daughter of a nomarch dances one evening for the pharaoh's brother, Ti. Soon she is a cherished wife, interrupting her idyllic existence only to revisit the home in which she once lived. Her parents are gone, but a house snake, set to catch grain-thieving mice, remains. "The same snake or another. Who could tell?" Heb-Nefert's ponderings arise from her current museum-display vantage point, a 3,000-year period of mummification in "the silent twilight of the afterlife," taken up "when day changed to eternity" and during which she has seen that all things change. Now she hovers in spirit above the display case at which museum-goers express astonishment that her mummy and the one near it—the mummy of her beloved husband—were once living people. Heb-Nefert thinks them foolish for not foreseeing that soon enough they will be dust and bones while she will remain as she is now, "black as night, stretched as tight as leather on a drum," although, in a stunning final line, there is a proud, immutable, and very human fact: "Once I was beautiful." Christiana provides haunting portraits, hints of a spirit world, and misty glimpses as well as bold scenes of the past. A startling shot of a contemporary child underscores Heb-Nefert's dulcet lament in this compelling work. (Picture book. 6-11)
Pub Date: April 1, 1997
ISBN: 0-15-200479-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1997
The journey is even gently funny—Omakayas’s brother spends much of the year with a porcupine on his head. Charming and...
This third entry in the Birchbark House series takes Omakayas and her family west from their home on the Island of the Golden-Breasted Woodpecker, away from land the U.S. government has claimed.
Difficulties abound; the unknown landscape is fraught with danger, and they are nearing hostile Bwaanag territory. Omakayas’s family is not only close, but growing: The travelers adopt two young chimookoman (white) orphans along the way. When treachery leaves them starving and alone in a northern Minnesota winter, it will take all of their abilities and love to survive. The heartwarming account of Omakayas’s year of travel explores her changing family relationships and culminates in her first moon, the onset of puberty. It would be understandable if this darkest-yet entry in Erdrich’s response to the Little House books were touched by bitterness, yet this gladdening story details Omakayas’s coming-of-age with appealing optimism.
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-06-029787-9
Page Count: 208
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2008
Ohkwa'ri and his twin sister, Otsi:stia, 11, are late-15th century Mohawks living in what would become New York State. Both are exemplary young people: He is brave, kind, and respectful of his elders, and she is gentle and wise beyond her years. One day Ohkwa'ri hears an older youth, Grabber, and his cronies planning to raid a nearby Abenaki village, in violation of the Great League of Peace to which all the Iroquois Nations have been committed for decades. When Ohkwa'ri reports what he has heard to the tribal elders he makes a deadly enemy of Grabber. Grabber's opportunity for revenge comes when the entire tribe gathers for the great game of Tekwaarathon (later, lacrosse). Ohkwa'ri knows that he will be in great danger during the long day of play and will have to use all his wits and skills to save himself and his honor. Bruchac (Between Earth and Sky, p. 445, etc.) saturates his novel with suspense, generating an exciting story that also offers an in-depth look at Native American life centuries ago. The book also offers excellent insights into the powerful role of women in what most readers will presume was a male-dominated society. Thoroughly researched; beautifully written. (Fiction. 8- 11)
Pub Date: June 1, 1996
ISBN: 0140385045
Page Count: 155
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1996
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
