Immi's Gift

A fur-clad Inuit girl searches for the brightest objects she can find in a "frozen white world," rendered in smudgy watercolor and gouache with colored pencil detailing. Ice fishing, she finds a painted wooden bird, followed by an orange starfish, a green leaf, and a purple feather, which she uses to adorn her igloo. The decorations bring visitors "from far and wide" (gentle polar bears, a walrus, rabbit, and wild dogs), who share "stories of faraway lands," as a blizzard swirls outside. When the snow starts to melt, Immi drops the bear from her necklace into the water, and on the final spread a boy on a tropical beach finds it in the sand. With shades of David Wiesner's Flotsam and Suzy Lee's Wave, it's a story with a quiet magic and beauty. Ages 4–8. (Oct.)