There was a time when Raven and Loon were both plain white. "Raven hated anything boring. And without colour, he bored even himself!" He flies back and forth, "trying not to go crazy with boredom." Finally, he visits Loon and decides they should make each other a pretty coat. The coat Raven makes for Loon is, indeed, beautiful as he paints a pattern on her feathers with soot. When it's Loon's turn to decorate Raven, she's hampered by his incessant talking and squirming. Raven moves once too often and her work is ruined. Furious that he's still a single color, although now it's black, he throws a lamp at Loon, flattening her feet. Their long memories explain why Raven is black, and Loon has flat feet, to this day. A delightful retelling of an Inuit tale is accompanied by comical illustrations that underscore the story's humor. (Ages 3-6)

In the time before animals were as they are today, Raven and Loon were both white. Their feathers had no colour at all. Raven spent his days swooping through the sky trying to fight off his incessant boredom, while loon spent her days in her iglu working away on her sewing. One day, too bored to even fly, Raven visited Loon and suggested a sewing game that would give their feathers some much-needed colour. The results - not at all what the two birds expected - led to Raven and Loon acquiring their now-familiar coats.

This whimsical retelling of a pan-Arctic traditional story features lively, colourful illustrations from Kim Smith.