ON THE EDGE OF THE EASTERN OCEAN Pam Hall. Agincourt (ON), GLC Publishers, c1982. unpaged, paper-bound boards, $12.95. ISBN 0-88874-055-7. Grades 1-5. Reviewed by Sue Easun. Volume 11 Number 1. 1983 January. A young Puffin who has known only warmth and security at his mother's side finds his world torn asunder when a Great Black-Backed Gull raids their island home. In the confusion that follows, he is separated from his people and forced to fight for his own survival. When at last he reaches land, it is the fabled Isle of Funk, home of a ghostly Great Auk who warns the Puffin that trials greater than these still await his people. Instinct, he is taught, can save the individual, but the threat of extinction they all must face comes from outside the laws of nature and destroys without exception. Greatly distressed by what he has learned, the Puffin returns home to spread the word of impending doom. Can the Puffins save themselves? We're never told, for the answer is anyone's guess. This modern epic, by a past winner of the Amelia Frances Howard Gibbon Award (in 1977, for Down By Jim Long's Stage*) makes no accusations but its message is clear: responsibility cannot rest in the hands of the few. If your children will read poetry, by all means make the purchase. For primary/junior readers. *Reviewed vol. V/2 Spring 1977 p.90. Sue Easun, Toronto, ON.