Big Turtle

Caldecott Honoree McLimans (Gone Wild: An Endangered Animal Alphabet) gives this retelling of a Huron creation myth a contemporary look with the use of crisp, Native American–style motifs in bold primary colors. “Long ago, the World had two parts,” he explains. “All the people lived above in the Sky World. And all the animals lived below in the Water World.” On the upper half of the page, stylized Huron parents and children bend stiffly over fires and pots; below, beavers, otters, and other water animals fill a blue-green lake. The tale of Sky Girl’s rescue after falling into the Water World and the creation of the world on the back of Big Turtle is dramatized with plenty of energetic conversation: “What am I to do now?” says Sky Girl. “I can’t get back to the Sky World, and I can’t live in the water.” Yet, with much time spent on a contest to retrieve “special soil deep beneath the water,” other elements of the story—Sky Girl’s pregnancy, the sacrifice of Toad’s life, and the population of the new world—get short shrift, weakening their impact. Ages 4–8. (Oct.)