Water Sky

by Jean Craighead George

Book Overview

Nukik! Lincoln gasped, his skin tingling. Could this be happening! Had he just seen a whale with a white tail? Was it now going to give itself to him, as Vincent had said?

Lincoln still could not believe it. He had had only one thing in mind when he made the long trip from Massachusetts to Barrow, Alaska, and that was to find his Uncle Jack. He thought Vincent Ologak, an Eskimo whaling captain, could tell him where to find him, for Vincent...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0064402029
• ISBN13: 9780064402026
• Release Date: February 1989
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.38 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.3" x 7.6"
• Age Range: 8 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 3 to 7

Customer Reviews

loved it!

This was one of the best books I have ever read! It was about a boy who takes a trip to alaska, and is at a whaling camp. He experiences many diffrent things. overall a super duper book! I loved it and totally recommend it for anyone who loves stories about the artic!:)

Thankful for a warm bed and a blanket

Very enjoyable. The plot and the characters were just as compelling as outlined by many of the other reviewers. However, what was most valuable to me was the description of life in the arctic. Books describing something that I know absolutely NOTHING about are very valuable to me. And believe me, before reading this I knew nothing about having to eat the duck's beak from the stew in order to please the host(ess). Descriptions of just how cold it can get--especially at night when the hero was trying to sleep---- were also very moving for me.

The story of an Arctic drama

Based on her experiences visiting the Arctic and the whale camp where her son works, beloved children's nature writer Jean Craighead George presents a beautiful story for older readers. It tells the story of a young man, Lincoln, who goes to the top of the world and the northernmost place in the U.S., Point Barrow, home of the bowhead whale and the Inupiat Eskimo. Lincoln comes searching for his long-lost Uncle Jack and to find the roots of his Eskimo heritage, but instead faces his destiny when the captain of an Eskimo whaling camp tells him that a whale is coming to him. Uncle Jack came to the Arctic to try to convince the Eskimo not to hunt the threatened bowhead, and Lincoln, when a turn of events causes him to become the whaling captain, is torn between whether to respect Uncle Jack's environmental plea, or to honor the beloved whaling captain by killing the great whale. Though Lincoln slowly comes to feel like a true Eskimo by weaving himself into their culture and customs, he sadly realizes that he can never be one of these magnificent and efficient people. Romance becomes the main thing that causes Lincoln to realize this, and the heroine he becomes attracted to is as strong and beautiful as the main character in Ms. George's other Arctic novel for young adults, JULIE OF THE WOLVES. The ending is poignant and unforgettable, and out of Ms. George's eighty plus environmental stories, WATER SKY is probably the most provocative and thoughtful. Fans of the Julie books and the spectacular picture book, ARCTIC SON, will adore this story that is at the same time icy, thoughtful, inventive, tragic, and altogether a rewarding read.

It tells a detailed and wonderful look into the Artic.

This book shows the ways of life in a part of the world we rarley hear about or think of. It opens another door into a childs mind. I rate it 4 stars because some children have found it only slightly boring in the beginning. Otherwise they are "glued" to the pages reading and reading to the book's next adventures.

One of her best!!!

This book is about a boy who is sent to live in the Arctic with his father's Eskimo friends for the spring and the summer. He spends his time whaling and learning the Eskimo way of life. The end was a little odd, but it was a great book just the same.