Story of the Day 4/17/12

WELL.  I really dropped the ball on this one, didn't I?  I had all these plans for reading the kids a story every morning--even my teenagers gather round when I take out a picture book.  But here it is, months since our last book.

What actually spurred me into taking the following book out was an episode of Frozen Planet on Discovery Channel.  I'll explain in a minute.

I chose Very Last First Time by Jan Andrews.



VLFT is a story of a young Inuit girl who helps her mother harvest mussels from the sea bed when the tide is out.  The story takes place during the cold Northern Canadian winter, so the sea is actually frozen over. Normally, her mother climbs through a hole in the sea ice to collect the mussels before the tide returns, but this time, it is Eva's turn to go under the sea ice by herself.  For the first time.  And as with everything, if it is the first time you are doing something, it is also the last first time that you will do it.

Eva quickly fills her mussel pan, and sets about exploring the sea floor--what an adventure!  Eventually, she hears the tide returning, and in her panic to get back to the hole where she left her mussel pan, her candle goes out!  Hands shaking, she finally lights another candle, and makes it back--the hole in the ice is full of moonlight, and Eva dances, waiting for her mother to collect her.  All's well that ends well, and Eva and her family feast on mussels that evening.

We have read VLFT before, as part of the Five in a Row curriculum.  Eli remembered the book, but the girls didn't.

Imagine my surprise, as we were watching the Frozen Planet episode "Life in the Freezer", and they actually showed Inuit people going under the sea ice to collect mussels!!!  It was amazing, and really made the book come alive.  While there is suspense in the book, the documentary truly showed how dangerous it can be to harvest the mussels.  Frozen Planet is currently on Discovery Channel on Sunday evenings at 8pm.