Official Review: Katiktaak and Kaviksaak

[Juliana_Isabella]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Katiktaak and Kaviksaak" by eelonqa K harris.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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Katiktaak and Kaviksaak by Eelonqa Harris is a delightfully surprising children’s picture book about our responsibility to the environment and each other. The author uses multimedia illustrations and comic book-like sound effects to tell the story of two Native American sisters who try to help a mean, greedy troll. The troll, the sisters, and the reader eventually learn that Mother Earth can be vengeful when she’s not respected.

I can truly say that I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this story. When I first saw the illustrative style, I thought the combination of different photographs with comic book-style text over them would be distracting. However, within the first few pages, I found myself drawn into the story with the images helping to root me in the setting. The narrative text overlaying the pictures matches the colors of the Northern Lights displayed behind them while still being a distinctive enough color for the reader to view them clearly. This, along with the wonderfully detailed characters, made me feel like I was being transported into the world of the story, where people live in harmony with nature and a talking bear just might knock on your door.

The lesson in the story is one we could all benefit from, especially those who live in a culture where wasting natural resources is just another part of life. The girls repeatedly reinforce the idea that people should see natural resources as gifts from Mother Earth and treat them as such. They see the troll get into trouble over and over because of his greed and destruction of nature.

I am pleased to rate this book 4 out of 4 stars. I didn’t find any grammatical errors, and every part of the book, from the characters to the pictures to the narrative style, placed me further within the sisters’ world. If I had to cite one complaint, it would be that I thought the pictures were a little blurry on some pages, and two lines of text crossed over each other on one page, making it hard to follow a sentence from one word to the next. However, neither of these issues prevented me from reading or enjoying the book. I will include a quick warning that the troll (“unintentionally”) resembles a certain American politician, and this portrayal may be offensive to some of his supporters. I will also warn that there is a little violence in the book, but it is certainly not gratuitous, and the description and illustration are comparable to those in other children's books and movies.

I would recommend this picture book to parents of children ages 4 to 10 who want to teach (and learn) about the gifts Mother Nature has given us and the danger of greed. If I enjoyed the story this much as an adult, I can only assume that children in the intended audience will also fall in love with the sisters, their world, and the lessons it has to teach us.

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Katiktaak and Kaviksaak
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[kperm]

This book seems very lovely. I like that it's message is to be respectful to nature. I enjoyed reading your review very much.

[kandscreeley]

I'm wondering if the names are spelled put in a way to allow younger audiences (and older ones for that matter) to be able to pronounce them. That's my only qualm. In every other way, this sounds fun. Thanks.