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Frozen Stiff

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Review by Linda Green


Frozen Stiff
By Shery Shahan

As a part of her research for this book the author spent a week camping on the shores of Russell Fjord Wilderness Area and paddled a kayak to Hubbard Glacier. Like the hero's in her story, she battled renegage icebergs and suffered snow blindness.

Jacket issustration 1998 by Wayne McLoughlin

1. Does Native terms for people of certain area fit all?
Terms such as "Tlinget Indians" and "Natives" refer to the local people.

2. Howa re the pictures illustrated?
The jacket illustration is of icebergs and two kayaker's

3. Language Usage:
Only two or three times in this book the characters refer to "Natives of the area…"

4. Name Usage: Native names sound quite different from the normal?
No native names were used.

5. Is all the clothing the same?
No illustrations except for the cover.

6. Look for respect toward animals land, other people.
The characters talk about the local animals in different areas throughout the book, and yes, whatever was said repect toward the animals and land came through very strongly. The same is for people, whether it was parents, siblings, or "local Natives", repect was used.

7. Is the continuity of the culture represented with values, morals, and an outgrowth of the past, connected to the future?
At the end of the book the characters meet a man who lives in the wilderness, with his Native wife. The ending brings a lot of events throughout the story, together. References are made about the traditional ways, subsistance living, and spiritual beliefs, and they are very well written.

8. Are ceremonies described properly?
No Native ceremonies are written about in this book.

9. Does the writer show any understanding of the relationship between material and non material aspects of life?
Yes, again at the end of the book. The two characters are young teenagers, and after meeting the man who lived in the wilderness and his Native wife, values in life are strongly written about.

10. Do white authority figures know better than the Native people themselves what is good for them/
No.

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