Tomson Highway, illustrated by Brian Deines,
Fox On Ice
Fifth House Ltd/ Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2011.

Rating: E*

Tomson Highway is an award-winning author and playwright. In this tale of traditional Cree life in northern Manitoba, he weaves together a picture of a loving family, the natural environment and a mystical event. The story is written in both Cree and English.

Highway depicts a family’s winter outing: travelling by dog sled, going ice-fishing, and sharing a picnic of bannock and whitefish. While Papa and Cody watch the jigger, Mama and little Joe nap in the sled attached to the resting huskies. Suddenly the dogs spy a fox on the other side of the lake and off they go like a shot, carrying Mama and Joe with them. Papa has to make a quick choice. He abandons his jigger and valuable net in order to save them. Luckily, he is able to stop the runaway sled and Ootsie, Cody’s dog, manages to save the net, to everyone’s delight.

Brian Deines’ oil paintings make you feel the texture of the snow, the coldness of the air, and the beauty of the wildlife above and below the ice.

There is magic in Highway’s writing even in the midst of a dangerous sled ride:

"Jets of snow flew up from Mama’s heels. Rainbows danced inside them. To Cody, the sled looked like a faraway angel taking off on wings of rainbow snow. Mama’s shouts and dogs’ barks sounded like crystal chimes."

This book would tie in well with studies of seasonal activities of aboriginal people.

Highly recommended.

Lori Austin
Vol. 16, number 4
April 2011

*Rating System:
E - Excellent, enduring, everyone should see it!
G - Good, even great at times, generally useful!
A - Average, all right, has its applications.
P - Problematic, puzzling, poorly presented.