Jimmy Bluefeather [Hardcover]

Part quest, part rebirth, Heacox's debut novel spins a story of Alaska's Tlingit people and the land, an old man dying, and a young man learning to live. Kirkus Reviews(Starred). Winner: National Outdoor Book Award

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), hes 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 Kebs 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 rogues gallery of colorful, endearing, small-town characters, this book stands as a wonderful blend of Mark TwainsThe Adventures of Huckleberry Finnand John NicholssThe Milagro Beanfield War, with dashes of John Steinbeck thrown in.

1.This best-selling author received Starred Reviews from Kirkus, Booklist, and Publishers Weekly for his previous book, JOHN MUIR AND THE ICE THAT STARTED A FIRE (Lyons/April 2014.)
2.This new novel follows his memoir,Rhythm of the Wild(Lyons/May 2015.)
3.The Only Kakay: A Journey into the Hear of Alaska(Lyons, 2006) was Finalist for the 2006 Pen Center USA Western award in creative nonfiction.
4.Features exotic and adventurous setting, quirky-wise characters, environmental controversy, Alaska Native American spló0