In 1913, a boat called Karluk was carrying scientists, part of the Canadian Arctic Expedition, up the coast of Alaska. Also on board was an Iñupiaq family. The mother, Qiruk, kept the crew in warm clothing with her skill at sewing sealskin coats, pants, and boots. The father, Kurraluk, hunted food for the group. Their two children were eight-year-old Pagnasuk and two-year-old Makpii. This exquisite book pairs Jacqueline Briggs Martin’s elegant, graceful prose and Beth Krommes stunning scratchboard illustrations in the dramatic true story of what happened to the travelers when the Karluk became stuck in an ice floe. The group was stranded in the middle of the Arctic’s frozen waters for more than a year. Abandoning the damaged ship (which later sank), they set up an encampment on the ice. The captain and others set off across the dangerous ice floe in search of rescue, while those who stayed behind relied on the skills and knowledge of the Iñupiaq family to survive. Exquisitely detailed, the prose and art provide an intimate look at this Iñupiaq family, their culture, and their traditions, in the context of an incredible survival story. Additional information provided in this 9 x 11” volume includes a complete list of the individuals on board the Karluk and three wonderful black-and-white photographs showing Qiruk, Kurraluk, Pagnasuk, and Makpii. Honor Book, CCBC Sibert Award Discussion (Ages 8–14)

In 1913, a boat named Karluk, Aleutian for "fish,” part of the Canadian Arctic Expedition, became stuck in the Arctic ice. On board were a captain and crew, scientists and explorers, a cat, forty sled dogs, Inupiaq hunters, and an Inupiaq family with two small girls. Even with the Inupiaq and their skills of hunting and sewing, even with the family’s care and wisdom, even with the compassion and courage of their captain, odds for survival in the cold, dark Arctic seem against the passengers of the Karluk.
Here is a riveting, unforgettable story, poetically told and exquisitely illustrated with rounded scratchboard art that captures the strength and grace of Inupiaq culture. Details of centuries-old crafts and skills -- of sewing boots from caribou legs and ugruk skin, of quickly cutting snow houses, of wearing wooden goggles to ward off snowblindness -- will enrich modern imaginations. And by the story’s end, listeners will know something of the way of life in the high north, something of the song of the place, the wide sky, the sound of the wind, the ptarmigan.