The Sockeye Mother

Writing in lyrical prose, Huson, who belongs to the Gitxsan Nation, honors the sockeye salmon as a resource and potent symbol within Gitxsan culture: “Little does this small sockeye fry know that its life cycle not only nourishes the people and other beings along the watersheds, it is the whole reason the forests and landscapes exist.” He describes the journey of a young sockeye from the river to the Pacific and back again to spawn, incorporating (and defining) vocabulary words related to salmon ecology, including semelparous (“breeding only once in a lifetime”) and keystone species. Donovan, a member of the Métis Nation of British Columbia, incorporates masklike images into her dynamic spreads, as well as motifs of flowing currents, plumes of campfire smoke, grasses, and tree bark. Huson eloquently conveys the fragile interconnectedness of the natural world and the moral imperative to protect it. Ages 10–14. (Mar.)