My Coyote Nose and Ptarmigan Toes: An Almost-True Alaskan Adventure

Alaska natives and sisters-in-law McKittrick and Higman trace a family%E2%80%99s backpacking trip across the Alaskan wilderness, during which a boy imagines himself to be a dozen animals, including a caribou, beaver, wolf, and snail. Higman%E2%80%99s cut-paper artwork has the appearance of stained glass windows, her characters and environments defined by thick black outlines and painted in with bright color. Writing from the boy%E2%80%99s perspective, McKittrick recounts the journey in rhymed couplets; while the verse is certainly in touch with the boy%E2%80%99s imagination, it often feels overworked (%E2%80%9CThe tree monsters snatch me with long spiny arms/ and nobody cares as I yelp my alarms%E2%80%9D) or more focused on rhyming than sounding natural (%E2%80%9CA bear can%E2%80%99t be picky; I have to grow plump/ %E2%80%99til I jiggle with fat from my head to my rump%E2%80%9D). Despite some playful touches (the boy retains his green backpack whenever he transforms into an animal), repetitiveness sets in as the family treks across fields, camps near rivers, and wrestles its way through thick brambles and %E2%80%9Coozing brown guck%E2%80%9D%E2%80%94the trip is a long one, and it feels it. Ages 3%E2%80%937. (Mar.)