North Shore Scandinavians will enjoy the Children of the Northlights.
Authors Ingri and Edgar Parin D’Aulaire have created a charming children’s book with wonderful illustrations about a sister, Lappe Lisa and her brother, Lasse Lappe, who live near the top of the world in the land of the Lapps. Children of the Northlights was translated from its original Scandinavian language to English a number of times since 1935, with this edition being published by the University of Minnesota in 2012. This latest version shared some interesting information— in recent times, the term Lapps is considered derogatory to the people who now call themselves the Sami People. However a number of Sami People still refer to themselves as Lapps
The two children are featured in the story of the nomadic life of days and nights for their family and friends in the barren land where they live. They both have reindeer and a small sled of their own, as most Sami children do. Along with their own dogs and reindeer their adventures are many and interesting and maybe a bit scary to those of us who live in towns.
The children show their adaptability when helping watch the herd. The book takes them on travels through a blizzard, the dark, cold, under the nightly beautiful Northern Lights, along with watching the reindeer standing on their heads in the snow.
Readers follow their travels to the town for a six-month stay over the summer for school. Classes are taught by a stern male teacher, and they stay in a barracks-like building with saunas for bathing. There are strict rules of behavior in classes, sitting on wooden benches, and not talking. I think children now-a-days would have a hard time behaving as well as the Sami Children do. This is a time of learning much and being lonesome for families and pets, as well as the herd.
At the end of their school year all the families come into the town church for baptisms of the smaller children and celebration before heading out into the wilds again.
The book is available from University of Minnesota Press at www.upress.umn.edu.
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