This book is one of the "Girls of Many Lands" series. You will be impressed with it before you begin reading. The covers have fold that serve as place holders. The back flap has a detachable bookmark with a gorgeous picture of Minuk. The inside cover has a picture on facing pages that shows Minuk pulling a sled through the snow. This instills a vivid image of the character and landscape into the reader's mind immediately.

Minuk: Ashes in the Pathway is the story of Minuk, a twelve-year-old Eskimo living in an 1890 Alaskan village, Yup'ik. Minuk was an extremely inquisitive girl, frequently getting into trouble for being to "bold" for a girl in her village. She was expected to be quiet and demure, as was the Yup'ik custom.

When white missionaries came to the village, Minuk and her people were exposed to a wide array of new things. At first they welcomed the whites and enjoyed learning about the things they possessed, from corsets to metal silverware. But soon, the whites started telling the villagers that their ways and beliefs were wrong. They tried to force the people to accept their beliefs and forget their own. Conflict and revolt swept through the village. Minuk began to question everything.

This book is a beautiful portrayal of a Native girl's coming of age amid controversy, resentment, and rampant disease. The author takes us inside Minuk and shows us the world through her eyes. We experience the wonder and awe at seeing the new people with the blue eyes. We feel the sorrow as the villagers die from the epidemic. The author's descriptive writing transports us to the final years of the 1800s and allows us to experience life in a Yup'ik village for ourselves. Hill keeps the reader thoroughly engaged in the story. His writing style is fluid, fast-paced, and picturesque.

I highly recommend this book for all ages. The large print makes it ideal for the vision-impaired.

Reprinted from Gotta Write Network Online

The book is about four people. Toughboy, Sister, Natasha, and Nelson, who is living with Toughboy and Sister up at the winter camp.A moose ran over Nelson's arm breaking it.Toughboy and sister take good care of Nelson.Until Natasha calls back and tells them that help is on the way.

I like the book because you never know what's going to happen.

Winter Camp is a great adventure book. It's writen by a Kirpatrick Hill. This story is about a brother and sister who have great adventures together. They call sister sister they call brother Toughboy. Sister and Toughboy go on camping trip. They meet a friend of Natasha's. His name is Nelson. In this story Nelson is saved by Sister. Toughboy wished he saved Nelson. I like this book because like adventrues.

by,Grace Dewitt

Wintr Camp is an awesome ficton book by Kirkpatrick Hill. It is about a girl that they call Sister, and a boy named Toughboy.They live with a lady named Natasha. Natasha takes them to Winter Camp, they will stay there for a while. The log cabin is old, dusty, and the windows are cracked.So the cold air seeps through the walls.Toughboy and Sister have to do their chores everyday.One day a man named Nelson comes and gets kicked by a moose.Natasha checked to see if he was hurt, and they found out that he broke his arm. The rest of the story is about how Natasha goes to get help. I enjoyed this book because it was exciting, and it captured my attention. The theme or mesage in Winter Camp was that the old ways are good and the new ways are good too.

The Year of Miss Agnes is a heartwarming tale of children in an Alaskan Village named Koyukuk. Fred (short for Fredrika) tells of the trouble her village has in keeping teachers in their small school. Year after year, the teachers leave for one reason or another, which the children believe is some fault of their own. Until the year Miss Agnes arrives and teaches the children in a new and interesting way. Everyone, children and adults included learn valuable lessons from Miss Agnes. The question is, will she stay longer than the others?
This book is written by Kirkpatrick Hill, an author who is a school teacher in the Alaskan "bush". She chooses appropriate vocabulary related to the life they live. She highlights the differences in their culture through the eyes of a child. Most children will be amazed at the responsibilities the children in this book embrace. I think this book would be wonderful for parent and child or teacher and child to read together and discuss. The language is simple, and the Indian words are described in context. Overall, an excellent book to read, discuss and enjoy. I can't wait to read another of Kirkpatrick Hill's books.

Miss Agnes is the first teacher who doesn't repel at the smell of fish....okay, so she has sinus problems and can't smell very well. She also lasts longer than any of the other teachers to this remote Alaskan town in the 1950's. She wears pants and is not afraid of hard work---she even comes in early to start the fire! Miss Agnes reaches each child at his or her own level, including a deaf girl who had never before been allowed to go to school.

This is a touching story that gives great insight into the lifestyle of a culture few of us can relate to. I'm sure there's still some "Miss Agnes'" in the world who love to teach and who love their children.

A great book for a girl in 2nd or 3rd grade or a read-a-loud for a class.

The Year of Miss Agnes
Kirkpatrick Hill
©2000, Margaret K. McElderry Books
ISBN 0-689-82933-7
$16.00

Kirkpatrick Hill was raised in Fairbanks, Alaska. She has been a elementary teacher for more than thirty years. She is also the author of Toughboy and Sister and Winter Camp. Hill has six children and three grandchildren. This is her first Bluebonnet Nominee.
The Year of Miss. Agnes is a standard size intermediate book with no pictures or maps. The wording that Hill uses helps the reader get a mental picture of what the story is about.
The story takes place in 1948 in a small Athabascan village on the Koyukuk River. The story is told by ten-year-old Fred (Frederika) who lives with her mother, her deaf sister, Bokko, and is close to her grandparents. Her father died when she was younger. All of the teachers that taught at that school left and never came back. Miss. Agnes taught in a one-room schoolhouse and enlightened children of all ages to read, write, spell, learn math and history, and be able to draw. She also taught Bokko how to talk and understand people.
By the end of the story the whole class, Fred and Bokko's mom were able to understand Bokko and respond to her.

After reading "The Year Of Miss Agnes" with my 9 year old we eagerly ordered "Toughboy and Sister". What a disappointment! I don't feel that even mild profanity is appropriate in a book sold for the 9-12 age level. Nor was I pleased with two different examples of taking the Lord's name in vain. This book was ordered for a book report for my daughter but was a waste as it cannot be used in her Christian school.
The sad thing for us is that the story is great, and would have been just as good without including words that are offensive to a whole group of parents.

Toughboy and Sister is a good book I think. But that is if you're into books about peoples life. I think of it as an adventure and sad book. I give it about 4 stars.

This book is about a young boy and girl. They were called Toughboy and Sister, well that's what their village called them. They hated when their dad came home drunk, until one day they found out something bad happened. Hours later their dad got home and they told him that their mom died. Then a couple years later their dad died. So they went to live with their auntie. But that's the next book called Winter Camp. I would suggest this book because I think it's a good, good, good book. I think it's a 3rd grade level book and over.

Toughboy, age 11, and sister, age 9 have only their alcoholic dad to care for them after their mother's death. They get excited about going to fish camp, even though it will be the first trip without mom. Shortly after they arrive to camp, their father leaves. Toughboy and sister learn to prepare meals, take care of themselves, catch fish the way their parents once had, and reminisce about past times. One day the dad returns on the boat, dead. They are then stranded at the fish camp for many weeks; finally Natasha saves them. At this point, they both realize the tremendous positive affect being stranded has had upon them.
The book, in my opinion, tells a very good story. It provides a positive ending to a suspenseful, intriguing story. If you like survival stories, you will definitely enjoy this book!