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Toughboy and Sister

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Review by Linda Green


Toughboy and Sister
By Kirkpatrick Hill
Published 1990, by Margaret K. McElderry Books in New York.
Jacket Illustration by Eileen McKeating

Kirkpatrick Hill was raised in Fairbanks, Alaska. Snow lives in Ruby, Alaska, and currently teaches in the neighboring town of Galena. She graduated from Syracuse University with majors in English and Education for the past 20 years she has been an elementary school teacher. Spending most of her time in multi-grade classrooms, or one-room schoolhouses in the Alaskan "bush".

21. Does Native terms for people of certain area fit all?
Because I was raised in Galena Alaska I am familiar with terms used in the area. All the Native terms used were appropriate.

22. Howa re the pictures illustrated?
The only illustrations are on the front and back cover. Which also reminded me of the area around home. The river, the children's faces, the log cabin.

23. Language Usage:
Use of language was very well dong

24. Name Usage: Native names sound quite different from the normal?
There were a few terms in the book, such as "clabas", which is an Indian knife, and "kiyoga" which is half-dried fish. The words are spelled the way they sound, I don't think it's the correct native spelling.

25. Is all the clothing the same?
The only illustration on the front cover is good. It gives you a comfortable idea about normal dress in villages (not all skins and furs)

26. Look for respect toward animals, land, other people.
The language used in the book when referring to respect of animals, land and people was well done i.e."Natasha was known to all to be a medicine woman".

27. Is the continuity of the culture represented with values, morals, and an outgrowth of the past, connected to the future?
The story is about 2 young children ages 9 and 11 who live in a camp along the Yukon river alone one summer. The courage, dignity, and survival skills the two young children learned from their parents.

28. Are ceremonies described properly?
The author writes about a "village funeral" (the books starts out with the mother dying). Even that is true. She (the mother had flown to Tanana hospital to have a baby, but mother and baby die, and the funeral proceedings start) describes very well what happens in a village during a funeral. The perspective is from the children's view, and its good.

29. Does the writer show any understanding of the relationship between material and non material aspects of life?
Yes, all references to spiritual beliefs and material, and non-material aspects of life are again well written in the book.

30. Do white authority figures know better than the Native people themselves what is good for them/
No, references were made throughout the book to Grandpa's, grandmas, auntie's and uncles, and they are all respectful.

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