
Written by Vera Starbard
After an argument sends his cousin into the wilderness, a boy must find her before it's too late.
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Emmett is tired of moving, but his mother's new job as a Tlingit clan-house caretaker brings them to Hoonah, Alaska, beside Glacier Bay National Park. There he meets Kaasteen, a cousin who knows far more than he does about their culture, their language and the family's many dogs. When an argument between them ends with Kaasteen lost in the park, Emmett must rely on the skills his family has taught him to bring her back. Will what he has learned be enough?
Backcountry meets Megan E. Freeman’s Alone in this survival/adventure middle grade about a boy who must rediscover his Indigenous culture while adventuring in Glacier Bay National Park with a team of loyal dogs.Emmett wants nothing more than to just stay in one place – finish school with the same friends, live in the same house, sleep in the same bed. His mother’s work means that they’re always moving around. But this time is different. This time, she’s promised not to move them anymore. But when she gets a once-in-a-lifetime job working as a Tlingit clan-house caretaker in Glacier Bay National Park, Emmett is forced to leave his familiar home (again) and enter a whole new world, a world full of trees, breathtaking mountains, snow bluffs, and giant lakes – lots of pups!He doesn’t know much about his mother’s small hometown of Hoonah, Alaska, or about the Tlingit culture she was born into. And when they arrive, he meets Kaasteen, a cousin he’s never known and who seems to have infinitely more knowledge about their culture than he does. She’s lived in Alaska all her life, and her family has lived beside Glacier Bay National Park for generations. She talks to animals, has way more dogs than Emmett cares to count, and even speaks a language that he doesn’t understand. Could she be any more annoying?Emmett would love to go back to his old friends and old home, and he’s happy to let Kaasteen hear about it. But when the two get into an argument that leads to Kaasteen getting lost in the park, Emmett will have to utilize the skills he’s learned from his family to save her. Will they be enough?
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