The Eye of the Needle: Based on a Yupik Tale - Softcover

Sloat, Teri

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0882405357 ISBN 13: 9780882405353

Publisher: Alaska Northwest Books, 2001

Synopsis

Sent out to hunt by his grandmother, hungry little Amik can't resist eating everything he catches. The more he catches, the more he eats, until he can no longer fit through the door of his grandmother's Yupik house in the Arctic. When his grandmother releases the magic in her ivory sewing needle, Amik finally learns the importance of sharing.

About this title

About the Author:

Teri Sloat is the author of ""There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Trout!,"" as well as the author and/or illustrator of many other books for children. A former teacher, she lives with her husband and their three children north of San Francisco.


Betty Huffmon was the first Yup'ik teacher in Alaska. She worked at the Bilingual Education Center in Bethel, and later directed the Bilingual/Bicultural Center after having been part of a team to make Yup'ik a first language in some of the delta schools and other villages in western Alaska. She also shared the tale for THE EYE OF THE NEEDLE with author/illustrator Teri Sloat.

From School Library Journal:

PreSchool-Grade 3-- In this Yupik tale, little Amik is sent by his grandmother to hunt for food. He is so hungry that he swallows everything he finds, from tiny fish to a huge whale. Replete and ashamed, he returns home only to find he has grown too large to enter the hut, but magic from grandmother's needle releases all the fish and provides food for everyone. This is similar in motif to Jameson's Clay Pot Boy (Coward, 1973; o.p.), but Amik's eating because he is hungry gives a more human motive to the story, while grandmother's magic provides a satisfying, happy ending. Sloat's illustrations, done in a limited range of hues with just a hint of warmth, successfully portray the barren Alaskan landscape without giving it a bleak look. The drawings of Amik are sometimes awkward, but the two-page spread showing only his head and wide open mouth as he swallows the whale is full of ravenous drama. The story is told with a slight formality appropriate to a folktale and is enlivened with the increasing "Glump, Gulump, Gullummp!" of Amik's eating spree and the "swish, whoosh, rumble" of the sea creatures when they are released. This tall tale, simply told in an oral style, should have wide appeal. --Karen James, Louisville Free Pub . Lib . , KY
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Alaska Northwest Books
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0882405357
• ISBN 13: 9780882405353
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 32