Very Last First Time

by Jan Andrews, Ian Wallace (Illustrator)

Overview

A classic story of an Inuit girl's first experience going alone under the ice to collect mussels.

Eva's journey is a very special one. Today, she will walk on the bottom of the sea alone. She will go into the cave that is under the ice when the tide is out. She will search for mussels as her people have done for centuries. She will find herself in darkness. She will find too she has brought what she needs with her. She will come again into the light.

Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.3
With prompting and support, identify characters, settings, and major events in a story.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.5
Describe the overall structure of a story, including describing how the beginning introduces the story and the ending concludes the action.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780888990433
Publisher:	Groundwood Books
Publication date:	10/01/1987
Edition description:	Reissue
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	9.70(w) x 9.20(h) x 0.40(d)
Lexile:	680L (what's this?)
Age Range:	5 - 8 Years

About the Author

Jan Andrews is a writer and storyteller who has published a number of highly acclaimed books for children. Jan lives on a lake near Ottawa, Ontario.

Visit Jan Andrews' website:
http://web.me.com/janandrews/Site/home.html

Visit Jan Andrews' blog:
http://www.2wp.ca/jans-blog

IAN WALLACE is one of Canada’s best-known children’s book creators. He has published many classics, including Boy of the Deeps and Chin Chiang and the Dragon’s Dance. His illustrations for Canadian Railroad Trilogy and Just So Stories have each received three starred reviews. His most recent book is The Curiosity Cabinet.

Ian has won the Elizabeth Mrazik-Cleaver Award, the Mr. Christie’s Book Award and the Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbon Award, among others. He has been nominated for the Hans Christian Andersen Award, the Governor General’s Award and the TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award.

Ian lives in Brookline, Massachusetts, with his wife, Deb.

Editorial Reviews

A unique experience for young listeners and an intriguing introduction to another culture.

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

In search of mussels while the tide is out, an Inuit girl walks alone beneath the ice of the frozen ocean, knowing she will never do it-for the first time-again. Pointillist paintings in purple and yellow emphasize the beauty of her undersea adventure. Ages 5-8. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

K-Gr 3 Eva Padlyat had often walked on the bottom of the sea with her mother. This extraordinary-sounding feat is routine for the Inuits of Northern Canada, who lower themselves through the thick winter ice at low tide to search for mussels on the ocean floor. It is now time for Eva's first trip under the ice alone. She and her mother pull their sleds across the snow until they find a place to chisel a hole; then Eva carefully lowers herself into the darkness. Lighting a candle, she begins to look for mussels; she then goes exploring. When she hears the tide coming in and drops her candle, she feels panicky, but she soon finds her matches and another candle to light her way back to the ice hole. On the surface of the ice once again, Eva sums up her adventure as her ``very last first time'' for walking alone on the ocean floor. This look at Eskimo life today combines the ancient custom of collecting mussels with modern features such as airplanes and snowmobiles. The story is well-developed, with just the right amount of suspense. The watercolor illustrations are somewhat uneven in quality; the colors in the land scenes are rather garish, and some figures are awkwardly proportioned. The eerie shades of the ocean floor are quite effective, however, and the strange seascapes lend an air of unreality. Very Last First Time is an intriguing view of a little-known way of life. Lucy Young Clem, Evansville-Vanderburgh County Public Lib . , Ind.

School Library Journal