The Littlest Sled Dog

January 1, 2009
Gr 2-4-Igvillu is a small terrier who dreams of being a sled dog, and when she is adopted by an Inuit storyteller and taken to the North to live, she believes her dreams will come true. Then she meets a gruff sled-dog leader who threatens to kill her and puts that dream behind her. Later that evening, her master is watching "The Wizard of Oz", her favorite movie, and she recognizes that small dogs can be heroes, too. Dog lovers will enjoy this story of dreaming big and just may learn about life in Nunavut, as the story and illustrations contain details that can dispel misconceptions about life in the great Northern reaches of Canada. Full-color paintings filled with motion complement the black-and-white scratchboard silhouettes that frame the text. Libraries needing additional material on modern Inuit life will want this title."Angela J. Reynolds, Annapolis Valley Regional Library, Bridgetown, NS, Canada"

Copyright 2009 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2009
Cairn terrier pup Igvillu dreams (impossibly) of being a fierce sled dog, but fate has something else in store, and Igvillu's life with an Inuit storyteller in far-northern Rankin Inlet has its own rewards. The story's sly confluence of fantasy and reality, tradition and modernity, is captured in candy-colored pictures that blithely swoop from Igvillu's dreams to the equally spectacular Nunavut landscape.

(Copyright 2009 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

January 1, 2009
Inspired by her mother's stories ("What do dogs tell stories about? Other dogs, of course"), the young pup Igvillu has ambitions of becoming a fierce sled dog renamed Fang. But fate has something else in store for Igvillu, and a good thing, too, as this is one Cairn terrier whose reach exceeds her grasp. Igvillu's life with an Inuit storyteller (who seems to be a stand-in for the author, profiled in this issue on page 65) in a cabin in far-northern Rankin Inlet has its own rewards, though, including runs alongside Hudson Bay, ground squirrels to chase, and television, where Igvillu makes the acquaintance of a dog just like herself, who accompanies his mistress on a journey over the rainbow. The story's sly confluence of fantasy and reality, tradition and modernity, is captured in Krykorka's candy-colored pictures that blithely swoop from Igvillu's dreams to the equally spectacular Nunavut landscape.

(Copyright 2009 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)