The Hawk Shadow

Serenity and her brother Big Ed are one with nature in this pleasing picture book that teaches about life in a northern indigenous family. Although it’s not delineated, they appear to live in a rural area in Northern Canada, part of an Ojibwe-speaking family. Ojibwe words are sprinkled in the text.

The kids are headed to the Hawk River to fish, with Big Ed shushing his pain-in-the-neck little sister so she won’t scare the fish.

“You’re too noisy. You’ll scare away all the fish.”

“The fish can’t hear; I roll my dark pebble eyes.

“Dad says everything can hear. The birds, the trees, the sun - even the fish,” he says.

Much banter takes place between the siblings, and, as shown by both the text and illustrations, their walk to the river is full of adventure. Serenity nearly chokes on chokecherries, a raven screeches from a tree and a fox crosses their path, all typical daily events on a busy bush trail.

When the pair arrive at Hawk River, they are greeted by a majestic Red-tailed Hawk which Big Ed says is there to protect the river. Although the kids have been nattering at each other, a sudden silence alerts Serenity to her brother’s absence. True to the folktale, the hawk takes charge and shows Serenity the way. She races after its shadow to discover that Big Ed has slipped and become trapped in the water between two big rocks.

Serenity throws Big Ed her birchbark fishing rod, which is supposedly inferior to a store-bought version, but it comes in handy and pulls him to safety. Suddenly, they have nothing to argue about and are bonded by their experience. The story is sweet, authentically representing children trying to navigate their relationship and display strengths they have learned from their parents.

Karlene Harvey’s illustrations show the forest in unexpectedly bright colours, which works well, since a close examination of trees and plants along a hiking trail actually reveals a palette of hues. Particularly fetching is the bird’s-eye perspective drawing of the kids walking through the forest, with trees of every variety standing tall on each side of the path. The children are shown to be happy and desire their crosstalk. They care about each other as shown by Big Ed’s expression when Serenity chokes. Big Ed and Serenity each have huge eyes that widen as they anticipate the day’s catch.

The Hawk Shadow can be added to the general collection of a library, merely for the enjoyment, or it can be used to augment a unit on siblings, on indigenous communities and on life in the North.