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

by Erin McKittrick, Valisa Higman (Illustrator)

Overview

Caribou, beluga whales, and mountain goats are just a few of the animals found in the Alaska wilderness that figure into this charming story where a boy’s imagination inspires him to approach challenges with a sense of adventure and fun. This beautiful children’s book follows a family’s expeditions in Alaska. Each page brings a new wilderness setting, and the boy overcomes obstacles by imagining himself as iconic Alaskan animals. Colorful, eye-catching cut-paper artwork illustrates each scene and captures the beauty of Alaska’s seasons and wildlife.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781632170316
Publisher:	Sasquatch Books
Publication date:	03/22/2016
Series:	PAWS IV
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	1,119,152
Product dimensions:	8.30(w) x 10.60(h) x 0.10(d)
Age Range:	3 - 7 Years

About the Author

Erin McKittrick was inspired to write this book after an 800-mile expedition around Alaska’s Cook Inlet with her own small children. She and her family live in Seldovia, AK.
 
Valisa Higman’s artwork is strongly influenced by her Alaskan upbringing, her extensive travels, her love of nature, and the ways in which we interact with the wild. She lives in Seldovia, AK.

Editorial Reviews

"Higman’s cut-paper artwork has the appearance of stained glass windows."
—Publishers Weekly

"I can’t think of a better book through which to introduce kids to Alaska and outdoor activity."
—Alaska on the Go

From the Publisher

02/22/2016
Alaska natives and sisters-in-law McKittrick and Higman trace a family’s 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’s 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’s perspective, McKittrick recounts the journey in rhymed couplets; while the verse is certainly in touch with the boy’s imagination, it often feels overworked (“The tree monsters snatch me with long spiny arms/ and nobody cares as I yelp my alarms”) or more focused on rhyming than sounding natural (“A bear can’t be picky; I have to grow plump/ ’til I jiggle with fat from my head to my rump”). 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 “oozing brown guck”—the trip is a long one, and it feels it. Ages 3–7. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly