This book is quite imaginative and full of intriguing illustrations, which I'm sure will be very appealing to young children! "Fish-Boy" also contains a positive message to be kind and accept each others' differences.

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Fish-Boy tells an Inuit folk tale with beautiful art and poet text. It is the story of a very special boy gifted in friendship who journeys with his new father. On their travels they experience many hardships and unwelcoming villagers.  Teaches lessons of hospitality, kindness and living with an open heart. 5/5

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Vanita Books through NetGalley. Opinions expressed are completely my own.

I love fairy tales and folk tales, and this Inuit folk tale was a great one. This book had nice illustrations to go along with the story of fish-boy. This is a fun story featuring themes of hospitality, nature, and respect. I like the glossary at the end and the message with suggestions for teaching points. This folk tale is a good story to expand kids' worldviews.

In this beautifully illustrated book, the young Inuit narrator is wondering why there are so many sea-parrots on the stony islands of the far North, and the wise old Teragloona tells him a story about Fish-Boy as an explanation.

The folktale of Fish-Boy is a story about the complex nature of human beings. It proves that someone with a disability can be a useful member of society, but it also shows how a person of power can feel intimidated by others whose skills are superior to his. It teaches us the importance of being kind hosts and helping others whenever we can.

An Inuit tale with lush illustration and a continuing tradition of storytelling.

Learn how Fish-Boy came to live with his father, see how people treated them on their journeys and behold the magic he possesses

A traditional and common story among the peoples of the PNW but well relayed here and I enjoyed seeing/reading this version of it. .

great pictures and a fun story! I enjoyed learning the stories of another culture and the artwork was amazing.

Beautiful illustrations with an enchanting story. Would be a great book to read-aloud to the First Grade age range.

If you, like me, enjoy to read interesting folktales or legends from all over the world, you should try and give this beautiful picture book a closer look.

Our narrator, a young Inuit boy, finds himself on a boat with men from his village, when they are hit by a very thick fog.

They are on their way to one of the Diomedes Islands for trading, which are situated in the Bering Strait. The Bering Strait borders with the Arctic and runs between Russia and the USA and between the two Diomedes Islands runs the International Date Line, which means if you cross from one island to the other you'll have a different date.
Because of it the two islands are also called Tomorrow Island (Big Diomede) and Yesterday Isle (Little Diomede).

As the village elder on the boat knows the waters like the inside of his pocket, they arrive safely, despite not being able to see where they are heading. When they get close to their final destination, the young boy sees a vast amount of sea-parrots or puffins and wants to know why there are so many and that's where our folktale of the little Fish-Boy begins.

We hear how there was once a man, who could not hunt because he was lame, but was able to fish for a living. One day he has a rather strange encounter, a little boy, who looks a bit like a merman, but without arms and with feet instead of fins, emerges from the water in front of him.

The boy tells him, he is lonely and wants to be his son and eventually the old guy is persuaded to take him on, but was it a wise decision? He is already struggling to fish enough to feed himself and now there's the Fish-Boy who has no arms.
Will their bond work and will the two manage to get by without going hungry?

Beautifully illustrated this is a unique story about compassion, resourcefulness, hospitality and differently-abled people and how they are viewed and treated. And a litte bit of magic is thrown in as well.

Some of the expressions are in Inuit language and therefore difficult for young children, but there is a helpful glossary at the end of the book, where we also find interesting ideas for discussion and a short bio of author and illustrator.

The splendid maps at the start and end of Fish-Boy are a huge joy to look at and a wonderful way to get the wee ones interested in the Bering Strait and all things geography in general.

The Fish-Boy is a very beautiful retelling of an old Inuit Folk Tale which will have your kids think differently about people with disabilities and their amazing ingenuity to adapt to their situation and they will also learn how to get from tomorrow to yesterday in a couple of hours.

4 star shaped puffin footprints from me.

Fish-Boy is about an Inuit folk-tale told by Vanita Oelschlager with perfectly sweet illustrations. The story is told by Teragloona (a wise old Inuit man) when the boy asks why there are sea parrots in the ocean.

I didn't have much knowledge about Inuit people or their culture but this folktale was so interesting and magical that it made me curious. The name of the islands are so interesting. The illustrations are so beautiful and they perfectly support the flow of the tale.

I am in love with the art style and the culture of the Inuit people!

However, I think this story is very long and rather wordy for the target audience. Typically, I think picture books aim at kindergarten thru second grade or so. This book caters more towards stronger, advanced readers because of the writing style and the length. Perhaps even a fifth grader would be challenged by this book.

Thanks go to Net Galley and Vanita Books for the DRC, which I received free and early in exchange for this honest review. This book is now available for sale.

My first impression was that this might be a children's book, just from checking the title and jacket, but most readers in the early grades will want pages with fewer words. I recommend this book for upper elementary classrooms and children, but parents and teachers of younger students of high reading ability can also use this story. There's no content that is likely to frighten a sensitive small person. It will also be useful for more intensive reading groups at the middle and high school levels, since it has an accessible vocabulary level that doesn't talk down to its readers.

What I like most about it is the way it cuts across the stereotype of the "Eskimo" that older books present. The story is an Inuit folk tale. It's congenial and has pictures that color the whole page, which adds to interest.

In every classroom there are some young readers that will not voluntarily read fiction, but that will willingly take up nonfiction. I recommend this title for classrooms and school libraries, and for parents looking for multicultural nonfiction to use at home.

5★
“The wise old Inuit, Teragloona, said to me, ‘Soon we will go to the two islands the white trader calls “Diomedes”. They lie between our land and the big land where the fathers of our fathers’ fathers’ fathers came from.’”

What a delightfully told and illustrated Inuit folktale! The boy telling the story goes with Teragloona and the men across the waters between the islands in the Bering Strait. The book opens with a double-page spread showing the Diomedes Islands with their Inuit names, meaning Yesterday Island and Tomorrow Island. Between them lie "The Waters of the Change of Days".

He sees a floating island which turns out to be an enormous mass of puffins! They rise and settle, rise and settle on the water, and when he asks why, Tergloona promises to tell him the story when they return.

This is that story, and an inventive one it is, about a boy who is something like a mermaid but with no arms, and he can live on land. He helps an injured fisherman catch fish and is adopted, but other villages envy this extra help, which leads to some trouble. Eventually, the result is that the bad people become puffins, but of course the real story and the illustrations are far more entertaining and beautiful than these notes.

[My Goodreads review includes a picture of Teragloona.]
[My Goodreads review includes a picture of the boat sailing between the islands.]

As I recall, the author always includes a glossary of terms, when necessary, and some extra information and suggestions for extension activities. I'm going to quote one bit here which is interesting:

“Diomedes: Two small islands between the United States and Russia, separated by the international date line (which, if you could stand there, you’d have one foot in today, one foot in tomorrow!). The Diomedes Islands are also known as Nunarbuk.”

Thanks to NetGalley and the author for the copy to review. It's available as Read Now for all NetGalley members. Lovely!

What can I say, I'm a sucker for a good picture book.

This is a quintessential cultural gem of Inuit origin.
"If the shore would not guide him in his course, the stars beckoned to him or the wind blew him."

In this book, we have the Diomede Islands - the Ignaluk (Lesser Land/Yesterday Land) and the Nunakbuk (The Greater Island/Tomorrow Island). I love the little introduction to maps at the beginning of the book. It's how I would turn kids into lovers of high fantasy - maps, maps, maps

The story follows the wise old Tenaglaona who goes with a little boy to visit the land of the father's father's father's. The old man tells the boy a story of the fish-boy.

The story begins with a great hunter named Menadluk who killed many white bears.

Contrary to Menadluk the great hunter, we have Kitmesuk, a lame man who may not kill bears, but is a great fisherman.

Kitmesuk struggles to find fish one day, but encounters a fish-boy who is despondent, lonely and orphaned. He begs Kitmesuk to be his father.

Kitsemuk and fish-boy go on many adventures. I don't want to spoil this book for any reader - it's warmth and loving nature is transcendental.

This book is brimming with love, vibrancy and a beautiful bond between a father and adopted son. The morality that isn't stuffed down your throat, but instead it's interwoven into the complex narrative that is presented in such a simple yet elegant way. This is a great book for introducing kids to suspense and narrative without being too befuddling.

This is a magical, entrancing Arctic tale. The deep and vibrant colours seep with a feeling of homeliness and belonging.

This book concerns itself with turning your strengths into weaknesses. Kitsemuk is lame and fish-boy has no arms. And yet, they do what they can to make ends' meet and enjoy the life given to them. I absolutely adore the relationship between Kitsemuk and fish-boy.

This is a beautiful book with a lovely message: we all have our own strengths and weaknesses.

The illustrations here really set the mood. Don't be misled by the almost cutesy cover -- the illustrations within aren't cute, they're beautiful. Illustrator Mike Blanc does a fantastic job of capturing the arctic cold and the mystic atmosphere of the story.

The story itself is wonderful; it's a truly magical fable that doesn't shove a moral down your throat. The glossary and other information in the last pages were great additions, and I know a few little ones who love learning new facts presented that way.

I did find I had to go back and reread one section because it seemed at one point that a bunch of characters just suddenly appeared. I never did figure that out, so be cautious reading with ultra-curious, detail-oriented little ones.

Overall, a great read, especially for a 1-book night (it's a little on the long side).

First I want to thank Netgalley for an advanced digital copy of this book. What a beautiful book. I loved the illustrations as well as the old lore tale it told about the Fish Boy. The story is about a fisherman that finds a Fish Boy and promises to be his father if he helps him become a better fisherman. I don't want to spoil the story but it is heart touching and I would definitely recommend it to kids of all ages.

Fish Boy tells an old Inuit's tale about the meeting of Kitmesuk and a strange water creature. It reveals how both save each other's lives and teaches us the benefits of kindness and compassion.

WHO WOULD ENJOY READING IT?
Fans of fables and folktales.

WHAT I LOVE ABOUT IT
Though the book seems to be for young children, the text seems to be at the level of pre-teens. The art is gorgeous, but the story could do with a bit more suspense.

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Fish Boy: An Inuit Folk Tale by Vanita Oelschlager and Mike Blanc is available to buy on all major online bookstores. Many thanks to Vanita Books for review copy.

I wanted to love Fish-Boy. It’s a re-telling of an Inuit tale and the illustrations are gorgeous. It has several good lessons about acceptance, hospitality and fear. It also shows that people with handicaps can be full contributors to a community. There’s a bit of magic and like in any good tale, the bad guys get punished and the good guys get rewarded.

My problem was it was a little confusing and perhaps a touch long. The legend is being told by an elder to a boy during a trading expedition. I like that the emphasis here is on passing down stories. The legend itself is about Fish-boy and his adoptive father and tells why there are so many puffins near the Bering Strait. There were a couple bits that I didn’t quite understand why they happened, but I liked the fish-boy’s attitude and his father’s kindness.

The illustrations are lovely and may be worth picking up the book on their own.

I do think this would be a nice book to read with kids to help them learn about other cultures. There is a great little dictionary in the back, explaining some of the words that might be unfamiliar. There’s also a prompt asking readers to make up their own stories about how something came to be or why we do things as we do.

This beautifully illustrated folk-tale was new to me, as many Inuit tales are unfamiliar. I can see how it would fit into a unit of creation tales from native Americans, and this will broaden my collection to other tribes. (Since I live in upstate NY, we have many tales from the Iroquois, Mohawk, etc, but not as many from tribes that are not native to our region.)

Lovely origin story about why there are so many sea parrots, a.k.a. puffins on the island it is set.