Berry Magic - by Teri Sloat & Betty Huffmon (Paperback)

About the Book

Long ago, the only berries on the tundra were hard, tasteless, little crowberries. When Anana sings, she turns four dolls into little girls who run and tumble over the tundra creating patches of fat, juicy berries: blueberries, cranberries, salmonberries, and raspberries.

Book Synopsis

"This charming pourquoi tale tells of an Eskimo girl and her magic. Sloat's pictures are vibrant and engaging, befitting the land of the northern lights. . . . Delightful, playful and beautifully written."―School Library Journal

Long ago, the only berries on the tundra were hard, tasteless, little crowberries. As Anana watches the older ladies in her village complain bitterly while picking berries for the Fall Festival, she decides to use her magic to help.

"Atsa-ii-yaa (Berry), Atsa-ii-yaa (Berry), Atsaukina! (Be a berry!)," Anana sings under the full moon, turning the four dolls she sewed with a different color pelatuuk (or head scarf) into little girls that run and tumble over the tundra creating patches of fat, juicy berries: blueberries, cranberries, salmonberries, and raspberries.

The next morning Anana and the ladies fill basket after basket with berries for the Fall Festival. Thanks to Anana, there are plenty of tasty berries for the agutak (Eskimo tee cream) at the festival and forevermore.

As she did with The Eye of the Needle (praised by the New York Times Book Review, a San Francisco Chronicle Choice, and a Maryland Black-Eyed Susan Picture Book Award winner), Yup'ik Eskimo elder Betty Huffmon shared this folktale with author/illustrator Teri Sloat, who brings it to life with her delightful illustrations.

Review Quotes

"This charming pourquoi tale tells of an Eskimo girl and her magic. Sloat's pictures are vibrant and engaging, befitting the land of the northern lights. . . . Delightful, playful and beautifully written."-SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL

"Sloat collaborates with Huffmon, a Yup'ik storyteller, to infuse a traditional 'origins' tale with the joy of creating. Hearing the old women of her village grumble that they have only tasteless crowberries for the fall feast's akutaq-described as 'Eskimo ice cream, ' though the recipe at the end includes mixing in shredded fish and lard-young Anana carefully fashions three dolls, then signs and dances them to life. Away the bound, to cover the hills with cranberries, blueberries, and salmonberries. Sloat dresses her smiling figures in mixes of furs and brightly patterned garb, and sends them tumbling exuberantly through grassy tundra scenes as wildlife large and small gathers to look on. . . . Young readers will be captivated by the action, and by Anana's infectious delight."-KIRKUS REVIEWS

About the Author

Teri Sloat is the author of THERE WAS AN OLD LADY WHO SWALLOWED A TROUT!, as well as the author and/or illustrator of many other books for children. A former teacher, she lives with her husband and their three children north of San Francisco. Betty Huffmon was the first Yup'ik teacher in Alaska. She worked at the Bilingual Education Center in Bethel, and later directed the Bilingual/Bicultural Center after having been part of a team to make Yup'ik a first language in some of the delta schools and other villages in western Alaska. She also shared the tale for THE EYE OF THE NEEDLE with author/illustrator Teri Sloat.