Jimmy Bluefeather

By: Kim Heacox

Narrated by: Kaipo Schwab

Old Keb Wisting is somewhere around ninety-five years old (he lost count awhile ago) and in constant pain and thinks he wants to die. He also thinks he thinks too much. Part Norwegian and part Tlingit Native ("with some Filipino and Portuguese thrown in"), he's the last living canoe carver in the village of Jinkaat, in Southeast Alaska.

When his grandson, James, a promising basketball player, ruins his leg in a logging accident and tells his grandpa that he has nothing left to live for, Old Keb comes alive and finishes his last canoe, with help from his grandson. Together (with a few friends and a crazy but likeable dog named Steve) they embark on a great canoe journey. Suddenly all of Old Keb's senses come into play, so clever and wise in how he reads the currents, tides, and storms. Nobody can find him. He and the others paddle deep into wild Alaska, but mostly into the human heart, in a story of adventure, love, and reconciliation. With its rogue's gallery of colorful, endearing, small-town characters, this book stands as a wonderful blend of Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and John Nichols's The Milagro Beanfield War, with dashes of John Steinbeck thrown in.

©2015 Kim Heacox (P)2022 Tantor

Great story about keeping the old ways alive through generations

took awhile to get going, it was kind of hard to stay interested at first, but then once it got going I was hooked

Outstanding

Well done. Who live the native American stories that came with this book. A precious story of life and death, love and family. And I highly recommend it for anybody spending time in Alaska or even Glacier Bay.

The story was funny and serious and beautifully told.

I loved the humor and the wisdom in this story! You wanted to know the characters and rooted for all of them!

Subtle Wisdom

I liked Keb, he was a good man who had reverence for his people and the traditions they stood for. He taught his grandson with love and patience the meaning of a life well lived.

A quiet transfer of wisdom

Some stories grab your attention with some catastrophic event. Others grab your attention with the dance of language. This is the latter and more appropriate for a story of wisdom, shared without coercion. As such it is a story for our times.