Reviews: (by author)

Lewis, Paul Owen. Storm Boy. Berkeley: Tricycle Press, 1999. ISBN 1-883672-96-1. $14.95.
Frog Girl. Berkeley: Tricycle Press, 2001 (paperback). ISBN 1-58246-048-5. $6.95

These two Native American stories, one featuring a boy and the other a girl, meld precise prose and gifted art into uniquely powerful and profound picturebooks. In both stories, the child encounters animal spirits in their worlds, not so different than our worlds; in each story, the child benefits from and is a benefit to this world's other inhabitants, and returns to our world wiser for the experience.

I heartily recommend these books for the personal or classroom library. Lewis' art is visionary but accessible, based on North Coast Indian motifs of totem poles and landscapes. The layouts and placements of prose are integrated beautifully in these tales in which children are the heroes, discovers, and benefactors.

A. Allison,

Maria Nikolajeva

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