Kirkus Review : In this gentle far North tale, a father departs by dog sled to hunt caribou. His young daughter busies herself at home, sewing a sealskin mitten like her mother. More passionately, emulating her father, she tries to carve a snow goose of soapstone, using her own ulu knife. Failing to "find the graceful bird in the stone," Missuk leaves the igloo for the snowy landscape, where there is a hint of spring. As the returning snow geese fly above, Missuk, for hours, makes bird imprints in the snow with her bundled body. (Readers will correlate these with "snow angels.") Safely home and abed as a storm blows in, Missuk dream-worries about her father. Families will relish this simple telling's child-empowering ending: The next day, father recounts how "a trail of goose shapes" led him home.
Cote's watercolor-wash and charcoal pictures warmly illuminate the family's emotional connection against a harshly beautiful landscape that teems with wildlife. Employing her signature stylized white faces, she adds ochre-washed cheeks to telegraph the First Nations family's ethnicity. ForeWord Magazine : Author Anne Renaud has lived in Northern Quebec and her experiences there inspired this gentle Arctic tale, her fourth work for children. She pays careful attention to small details, such as the sewing of a seal-fur mitten with a caribou-bone needle, and this gives her story a powerful sense of place. Geneviève Côté has illustrated several children's books and won a prestigious Governor General's Literary Award in 2007 for her illustration of La petite rapporteuse de mots. Her intriguing mixed-media illustrations use a limited range of colors, predominantly blue, lilac, and brown, to capture the essence of the frozen land. The style is simple: noses, for example, are represented by triangles. Yet she portrays a broad range of emotions, such as Missuk's wide-smile experience of serene geese-imprinting joy.
As the tale closes Missuk is bubbling with a newfound confidence, and her delight is contagious. This memorable story of life in the far north will leave the reader with a smile as wide as that of Missuk herself. Montreal Gazette : A picture book that warms the heart, despite being set in the frozen north, Missuk's Snow Geese is the story of a girl who wishes to become a great carver like her father. Her dreams are waylaid by worry when a snowstorm hits and he does not return home from a hunting trip. In a surprise twist, Missuk saves the day with her own artistic creations on the land about her family's igloo - "snow geese" that serve as beacons for her disorientated father. Anne Renaud's delightful tale of a self-doubting child who comes to see her strengths is well matched by Genevieve Cote's illustrations, which breathe movement and colour in a quiet, white world.