Frida Nilsson

Literary Merit: Excellent
Characterization: Excellent
Recommended: Yes
Level: Middle School

A wonderful tale of a girl on a dangerous quest to save her younger sister!

After her sister, Miki, is kidnapped by pirates, Siri braves the icy terrain to get her home. On her journey, she encounters friends and foes in the form of humans, wolves and mermaids. No matter how many times Siri is told her quest is pointless, she shows courage and strength to persevere.

This is a fantastic children's book that on the surface is a story of how courage and perseverance can overcome the biggest of obstacles. But underneath that, it tells of the ramifications of taking too much for ourselves. It would be a great addition to any library!… (more)

Everyone knows about the evil Captain Whitehead and his ship the Snow Raven. They kidnap children and take them to Whitehead's island to work in his diamond mine. On the island of Bluesay, Mikki and Siri are out searching for snowberries. Siri sends Mikki off by herself to hunt and she is snatched by the pirated. Siri wants to go after her, but no one from the village will help. She decides that she will go alone. She leaves her father sleeping and sneaks onto the last ship leaving for Segelen. Her journey is full of danger and magic. She meets mean pirates, a merchild and his mother, a bogle bird and white wolves. She gets captured and ends up working in the mines with her sister and other children. Along the way she discovers how mean and evil humans can be. She also discovers that there is more to Captain Whitehead that the stories she has heard.

This is a story of adventure, hope, determination, cruelty and courage. This is a great story for older readers (grade 5 and up) as they read about the cruelty humans can be capable of to animals and each other. The other thing to discuss is when someone perpetrates evil, but tries to justify it. Siri is brave, loyal, willing to make sacrifices, smart, persevering and has an amazing respect of all life. She remains optimistic even with all the cruelty and harshness of the world that she had to face. The story was well written with a great story, but it was a bit long. I recommend this book for school and class libraries. I think it would make a great read aloud for a middle grades classroom with a lot of themes for discussion. The publisher generously provided me with a copy of this book via Netgalley.

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