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Overview
Tiktala looked out at the black churning waters. She dreaded the sea, but she was more afraid of being left alone. She closed her eyes and heaved forward. "I am Tiktala," she cried, as she entered the ocean.
Tiktala looked down at what should have been her mittens and saw silver-grey fur, black claws-flippers. She tried to get away, but the flippers-her flippers-scratched and scrambled on the rock. Tiktala was a harp seal.
"Spirit!" her cry rang out. "Change me back!" But no spirit answered.
When the spirit guide changes her into a seal, Tiktala learns the ways of seals and how harmful humans can be.
Synopsis
Tiktala looked out at the black churning waters. She dreaded the sea, but she was more afraid of being left alone. She closed her eyes and heaved forward. "I am Tiktala," she cried, as she entered the ocean.
Tiktala looked down at what should have been her mittens and saw silver-grey fur, black claws-flippers. She tried to get away, but the flippers-her flippers-scratched and scrambled on the rock. Tiktala was a harp seal.
"Spirit!" her cry rang out. "Change me back!" But no spirit answered.
Ken Marantz and Sylvia Marantz - Children's Literature
Although village carvers in the Far North are selling their soapstone carvings, the elders fear that they no longer have the animal spirits in their stones. They ask for young people willing to seek the spirits out. Young Tiktala, whose father has lost his belief and spirit, volunteers to go on the three-day journey alone to find her spirit. She encounters a strange voice asking which animal she wishes to carve. When she answers "harp seal" she finds herself transported to an island and transformed into a seal. She is helped reluctantly by Tulimak, another seal, to swim, eat, and sleep as they proceed first north, where Tiktala saves Tulimak from a bear; then south where Tulimak joins other seals giving birth. When Tiktala bravely rescues Tulimak's baby, she becomes a person again, carving tool in hand. The seal she carves brings the light back to her father's eyes. Gál's double-page scenes are naturalistic, but in ranges of blues and greens that enhance the spirituality of the story. The Arctic landscapes and seascapes dominate our perceptions, providing dramatic environments for the few actors. The illustrations exude appropriate emotions, helping emphasize the moral message. Tiktala begins her quest wanting to be famous and rich as well as to help her father. Tulimak believes all humans are evil. Both end wiser. 2002, Fitzhenry & Whiteside,
Editorials
Children's Literature
Although village carvers in the Far North are selling their soapstone carvings, the elders fear that they no longer have the animal spirits in their stones. They ask for young people willing to seek the spirits out. Young Tiktala, whose father has lost his belief and spirit, volunteers to go on the three-day journey alone to find her spirit. She encounters a strange voice asking which animal she wishes to carve. When she answers "harp seal" she finds herself transported to an island and transformed into a seal. She is helped reluctantly by Tulimak, another seal, to swim, eat, and sleep as they proceed first north, where Tiktala saves Tulimak from a bear; then south where Tulimak joins other seals giving birth. When Tiktala bravely rescues Tulimak's baby, she becomes a person again, carving tool in hand. The seal she carves brings the light back to her father's eyes. Gál's double-page scenes are naturalistic, but in ranges of blues and greens that enhance the spirituality of the story. The Arctic landscapes and seascapes dominate our perceptions, providing dramatic environments for the few actors. The illustrations exude appropriate emotions, helping emphasize the moral message. Tiktala begins her quest wanting to be famous and rich as well as to help her father. Tulimak believes all humans are evil. Both end wiser. 2002, Fitzhenry & Whiteside,— Ken Marantz and Sylvia Marantz