The Song of Lewis Carmichael

Matthew, an only child, was a lonely boy who had difficulty making friends at school. He was lacking in confidence and felt that he did not live up to his parents' expections. However he did have one passion, the Arctic. Matthew read everything that he could about the Arctic, the North Pole, the animals who lived in the region and the men and women who had explored the Arctic.

One day Matthew was at the park reading a book about the Arctic when a crow (raven) approached him. Matthew shared a muffin with the hungry bird before returning home. Later that night the bird tapped on Matthew's window and introduced himself as Lewis Carmichael. Lewis suggested that he and Matthew should go and explore the Arctic in a hot air balloon that was parked on the roof of Matthew's house.

So began a great adventure including observing polar bears, Arctic woolves, Arctic owls, snow geese and walruses. But also during the adventure Matthew learned new life skills in order to survive and his self confidence increased as he tackled tasks and had to make decisions. It was a different Matthew who returned home after his great adventure.

The story by Sofie Laguna is illustrated by Marc McBride. The text and the detailed illustrations are all in blue and complement each other well. My nine year old grandson enjoyed examining the illustrations as we read The Song of Lewis Carmichael together. He also looked aout for lines of the 'song' throughout the text. A most enjoyable book.