Synopsis
A gripping wilderness adventure survival story with an intergenerational theme.
Children's Literature
This simple yet haunting novel portrays the best and the worst of the lives of the modern day Alaskan Native Americans. The story focuses on men of two different generations: seventeen-year-old Johnny Least-Weasel and his elderly grandfather Albert. Albert has been checking his own trap lines for sixty years and sees no reason to stop, until a freak accident traps him. Trapped and chained to a tree mere feet from his snowmobile and survival equipment, Albert has plenty of time to ponder his fate and contemplate his life. Johnny is worried about his grandfather's prolonged absence, but other community members convince him that his concern is unnecessary. Johnny waits as long as he can before anxiety overcomes him and he sets out to look for his overdue grandfather. Written in chapters alternating between Johnny and Albert, the similarities and the differences of the two men's lives stand out in icy relief. Johnny wants to improve his life and moves toward that end by taking high school correspondence courses, necessary because the village has not been able to keep a teacher. Johnny points out the high suicide rate amongst teens, caught between a world of plenty they can see on cable TV and the frozen tundra they are ill equipped to leave. Albert is holding on to the old ways in a world where they are no longer enough for survival. The journeys of both men are compelling and dramatic in addition to the no-holds-barred portrayal of the Alaskan wilderness. A fantastic read that transcends genres to appeal to many different YA readers.