This bilingual book (English and Inuktitut) provides a look at an Inuit girl's day spent clam-digging with her grandmother. The surprise of a squirting clam, the discovery of a "bright orange starfish," and a comforting meal of clams and tea are depicted in Teevee's faux-childlike graphite and colored-pencil drawings. The text, though stiff, reflects a child's perspective.

While her grandmother gathers clams, an Inuit child combs a nearby stretch of Baffin Island beach, finding kinquit (sea lice), an orange aggaujaq (starfish) and other treasures to put in her basket. Kinngait (Cape Dorset), Nunavut, artist Teevee illustrates the outing in a naive style that reflects its simplicity, using colored pencils to fill in the simply drawn forms and placing her figures in an open, rocky setting alongside wide expanses of blue sky and calm sea. The brief text in the Inuktitut language and alphabet sits atop an English translation that is sprinkled with musical words from the original—defined both in context and in a later glossary. The endpapers provide a map of Baffin Island and its surroundings, with an inset to locate it on a map of North America; all place names are indicated in Inuktitut script and Roman transliterations, with English alternative names where appropriate. Closing with a cozy feast of clams and hot tea, this is less a culturally specific episode than a harmonious, universally recognizable shared time between a child and her affectionate grandparents. (Picture book. 6-8)

PreS-Gr 2 This quiet bilingual (English and Inuktitut) story is set on Baffin Island in the Canadian Arctic. An Inuit girl joins her grandmother on a clam-digging expedition. As they leave their small village and walk along the shore, Alego encounters many strange creatures, some resembling small sea monsters. Just like the main character in Robert McCloskey's Blueberries for Sal (Viking, 1948), Alego doesn't end up with many clams in her pail, but the story concludes with a delicious and hearty meal nevertheless. The unadorned text is suited to the primitive and childlike pictures, which are done in soft colors with graphite and colored pencil. The book's very simplicity carries its own low-key charm. While the story won't have mass appeal, it will be appreciated in communities with an interest in Inuit culture. Lauralyn Persson, Wilmette Public Library, IL