Salmon Creek

The brief life of Sumi, a coho salmon, is the subject of this lyrical picture book. All phases of Sumi's life are shown, from her trip downriver to the ocean; to her time as a mature fish swimming in the great seas; to the most mysterious period in her life cycle, the determined return against great obstacles to the remote creak of her birthplace. Thousands of people come to witness the last great moments in the lives of salmon because it is such a moving and interesting phenomenon.

Annette LeBox's poetic text and Karen Reczuch's shimmering illustrations offer young readers a lesson in ecology and a touching story of the natural world.

School Library Journal

Gr 1-3-Reczuch's illustrations capture the natural beauty of stream and ocean in which the intriguing life cycle of the coho salmon occurs. With so much inherent drama in the facts, LeBox's decision to tell the story as a romanticized account of a fish named Sumi is unfortunate. While still in her egg, Sumi hears the mystical song of her dying mother, and her life becomes devoted to following a poetic dream, narrated in prose laced with couplets such as, "The males grew fangs and fierce hooked noses./Their scales became the color of roses." A time line of the fish's life cycle and an essay on threats to the salmon follow Sumi's story. Books such as Molly Cone's Come Back, Salmon (Sierra Club, 1992) demonstrate how real stories effectively told can be more compelling than cloying personifications. Let this book swim by with some wistful regret that the lovely art wasn't better served.-Kathy Piehl, Minnesota State University, Mankato Copyright 2003 Cahners Business Information.