La Pesca de Nessa:

by Nancy Luenn, Alma Flor Ada (Translator), Nancy Luenn

Out on the tundra, Nessa, an Inuit girl, and her grandmother have caught more fish than they can carry home. So they pile some rocks on top of their cache to keep away the foxes, and settle in for the night. The next morning, though, Nessa's grandmother is too sick to make the journey home, and Nessa must guard over her and the fish until she feels better. A fox, a pack of wolves, and a bear come to try to steal the fish. But Nessa remembers everything her family told her about these animals, and one-by-one, she scares them off -- even the bear!

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

Reviews

[VJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nessa and her grandmother go fishing. They catch enough fish to feed everyone in their village. But grandmother gets sick from something she ate. As she lays sleeping, Nessa watches over her grandmother and protects both her and the fish from wolves and a bear. She remembered how to talk to wolves, but had to devise a method for talking to the bear. She sang to the bear because she remembered that she needed to make the bear feel foolish. The bear DID look foolish as it did not know how to sing and so went away.

Nessa lay down and went to sleep next to her grandmother. When they woke in the morning, Nessa's grandfather, mother and father, along with all their dogs, came looking for them. They all returned to their village, fish safely in tow.

[Kris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nessa is ice-fishing with her grandmother, and she most protect their catch when grandmother becomes sick on the trek home. It seems like the characters are vaguely presented as Inuit, but it is never clear, and there is no tribe distinction. It also has questionable ways of dealing with a bear wanting food. Ya know, maybe don't defend yourself by making fun of it and telling it it can't sing. 😂