Overview
When the chief dies during an expedition to central Nepal, his father, Tinle, blames his grandson Tsering's friend Karma, accusing him of sabotaging the trip in order to become chief himself. When Karma embarks on a new caravan to help his people avoid starvation, the outraged Tinle takes his own group through the treacherous peaks and passes of the snowbound Himalaya. This powerful tale of determination and endurance, inspired by the Oscar-nominated film Himalaya, comes alive through the author's dramatic text and epic images.Synopsis
When the chief dies during an expedition to central Nepal, his father, Tinle, blames his grandson Tsering’s friend Karma, accusing him of sabotaging the trip in order to become chief himself. When Karma embarks on a new caravan to help his people avoid starvation, the outraged Tinle takes his own group through the treacherous peaks and passes of the snowbound Himalaya. This powerful tale of determination and endurance, inspired by the Oscar-nominated film Himalaya, comes alive through the author’s dramatic text and epic images.
School Library Journal
Gr 3-5-An extraordinary look at another culture beginning with exquisite calligraphy in Nepali script facing the title page and continuing throughout the tale. It is the story of a simple community in the remote Dolpo region of Nepal as the people make their annual trek to Tibet to collect rock salt, then cross the steep mountain passes into the valleys to trade it for grain. On the way, the group's leader-son to one central character and father to another-dies. A new leader must complete the trip, and herein lies conflict. A former chief senses that his son's death was caused and leadership position was assumed by a jealous upstart. He sees his young grandson as the new chief, if not immediately, at least for the future, and decides to lead the caravan himself. When the younger villagers decline to follow him, he travels to a monastery where another of his sons, a lama, is recruited to accompany him. The story becomes one of two caravans, almost two ideologies, engaged in not only their physical survival but also the survival of their culture-the "upstarts" who leave immediately and the elders who wait for the day decreed by the wise lamas of the village. Inspired by the French documentary of the same name, this handsomely designed book's text and art meld seamlessly. Most of the dramatic and culturally rich paintings are done in blues and grays and seem to parallel the isolation, deprivation, and hardships of the Himalayas.-Harriett Fargnoli, Great Neck Library, NY Copyright 2003 Cahners Business Information.