Hundreds of Fish

Set in the land of the northern lights, what seems at first to be a gentle tale of a young wildlife enthusiast's observations takes a sharp turn when a pike devours three ducklings whose progress she and her brother have been following. Stunned by this turn of events, the girl's sadness does not lift, despite her parents' counsel about the circle of life, until a few seasons later when she catches the finned culprit (identifiable by the fishing lures stuck to its mouth) while ice fishing and discovers hundreds of eggs inside it. ""I thought of the little ducks turned into little fish through the body of the mother fish. And when I eat the pike, the ducks and the fish will become a part of me."" Wood handles the story's philosophical overtones with a light touch and displays a poet's keen ear for language (e.g., ""long-legged birds... pecking with pointy beaks""; northern lights ""dance shimmering streaks in the sky""). Felix possesses the eye of a naturalist, and her finely detailed watercolors unveil the lakeside habitat with the same appreciation as the narrator who describes its riches--the reflection of reeds in the water, the lacy canopy of leaves in the forest, the delicate pattern of feathers on a duck's back. An airy layout adds to the book's quiet sense of elegance and wonder. Ages 9-up. (Apr.)