Salty Sails North

Salty, the ocean-going canine who first appeared in Salty Dog , is now ``a grown-up deep-sea sailor, a real salty dog'' and acts as crewman on a sailing cruise to Alaska with his master, Zack. The two weather a squall, have close calls with wolves and bears and visit a deserted Tlingit longhouse. Salty learns that he must obey Zack's orders without hesitation as Zack rescues him from an iceberg drifting out to sea. Soon they see the aurora borealis, and plan to hole up in town for the winter. Neither Zack nor Salty are endowed with any but the most superficial characteristics, and the bears and wolves are presented in a woefully atavistic manner, defined in terms of danger and narrow escapes. Except for an attractive rendering of the northern lights, many of the watercolor illustrations are overly cute and at times do not agree with the text. Ages 4-7. (Mar.)