Clearie’s dad is in the Navy, which means she’s moved around a lot. Now, she’s moving again – this time without her dad.
He has to go overseas to occupied Japan. So Clearie is going to Alaska to live with her mother’s people.
Alaska! What is in Alaska? Clearie barely remembers her mother. She’s never met her mother’s people. What will life be like there?
No radio, for one thing. Lots of fish. A very small school. People who look at her funny because she’s only half Tlingit Indian. And her aunt clearly does not have good memories of Clearie’s mother.
The village is also struggling – trying to keep the old ways alive, while the new generation shun them, and search for life outside the small village.
The tensions erupt – breaking family bonds and threatening lives and livelihoods. Somehow, Clearie finds herself in the middle of it all.
The Eagle’s Shadow by Nora Martin is a good introduction to life in Alaska, to dealing with the repercussions of alcoholism, to the bonds of family and history.
Recommended for ages 10 and up.
Cultivating Readers 
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