In a Different Light: Growing Up in a Yupik Eskimo Village in Alaska

by Carolyn Meyer

The author of Growing Up in a Changing Culture describes the changes that have occurred among the Yup'ik Eskimos during an eighteen-year absence, focusing on the younger generation in an effort to demonstrate the traditional and cultural differences that developed during that time.

196 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 1996

About the author

Carolyn Meyer is as versatile a writer as you will find. Along with historical fiction and realistic novels for young adults she has written nonfiction for young adults and books for younger readers on topics as diverse as the Amish, the Irish, Japanese, Yup'ik Eskimos, a rock band, rock tumbling, bread baking, and coconuts. And ten of her books have been chosen as Best Books for Young Adults by the American Library Association. In her most recent historical novels she has dealt with the young lives of Mary Tudor, Princess Elizabeth, Anastasia, and Isabel of Castilla, Spain.

Reviews

[NK · Rating 3 out of 5]

I learned a little about life in a remote Alaskan village.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

Carolyn Meyer has written a non-fiction account of a fictional Yup'ik village in Alaska. Set in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta near the Bering seacoast the account follows the villagers month by month through a single year in, I believe, 1995. Based on my experiences as a Bureau of Indian Affairs teacher in Yup'ik villages in the late 70s, this is an accurate, interesting reflection of village life. Not much has changed since the 70s actually...it was a walk down memory lane. One of the photo captions makes me a little crazy, though, because it says that the children are "tied together to prevent their getting lost..." when it is only showing a young child's mitten strings (lovingly handmade to prevent the mittens from getting lost).