The illustrations by Mike Blanc are what initially grabbed my interest in this book and are absolutely brilliant. I loved the story and found the glossary very helpful and well written. This is a story of fathers and sons, kindness and rejection, hospitality to guests, friendship and some magic. Fish-Boy is the origin story that explains why there are so many sea-parrots (Atlantic puffins) on the stony islands of the far north. It's a wonderful book in which the story of Fish-Boy is told to a young child by Teragloona, a wise old Inuit man. Lovely!įish-Boy is an Inuit folk tale told by Vanita Oelschlager. It's available as Read Now for all NetGalley members. Thanks to NetGalley and the author for the copy to review. The Diomedes Islands are also known as Nunarbuk.” “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!). I'm going to quote one bit here which is interesting: Picture of the boat sailing between the islandsĪs I recall, the author always includes a glossary of terms, when necessary, and some extra information and suggestions for extension activities. 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. He helps an injured fisherman catch fish and is adopted, but other villages envy this extra help, which leads to some trouble.

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 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. Between them lie 'The Waters of the Change of Days'. The book opens with a double-page spread showing the Diomedes Islands with their Inuit names, meaning Yesterday Island and Tomorrow Island. 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. They lie between our land and the big land where the fathers of our fathers’ fathers’ fathers came from.’”

“The wise old Inuit, Teragloona, said to me, ‘Soon we will go to the two islands the white trader calls “Diomedes”.

Fish-Boy by Vanita Oelschlager