Sharon Oliver (Children's Literature)
This simple yet haunting novel portrays the best and the worst of the lives of the modern day Alaskan Native Americans. The story focuses on men of two different generations: seventeen-year-old Johnny Least-Weasel and his elderly grandfather Albert. Albert has been checking his own trap lines for sixty years and sees no reason to stop, until a freak accident traps him. Trapped and chained to a tree mere feet from his snowmobile and survival equipment, Albert has plenty of time to ponder his fate and contemplate his life. Johnny is worried about his grandfather’s prolonged absence, but other community members convince him that his concern is unnecessary. Johnny waits as long as he can before anxiety overcomes him and he sets out to look for his overdue grandfather. Written in chapters alternating between Johnny and Albert, the similarities and the differences of the two men’s lives stand out in icy relief. Johnny wants to improve his life and moves toward that end by taking high school correspondence courses, necessary because the village has not been able to keep a teacher. Johnny points out the high suicide rate amongst teens, caught between a world of plenty they can see on cable TV and the frozen tundra they are ill equipped to leave. Albert is holding on to the old ways in a world where they are no longer enough for survival. The journeys of both men are compelling and dramatic in addition to the no-holds-barred portrayal of the Alaskan wilderness. A fantastic read that transcends genres to appeal to many different YA readers. 2006, Henry Holt and Company, $15.95. Ages 12 to 18.

CCBC (Cooperative Children’s Book Center Choices, 2007)
Albert Least-Weasel has been running traplines for decades, and he refuses to let age stop him. He maintains a stubborn insistence on independence, which is why he is all alone in the frigid Alaskan wilderness when one of his own traps springs and catches his leg in its grip. Albert’s grandson, Johnny Least-Weasel, hopes to go to college someday. In the meantime, he spends his time helping out his grandparents, finishing his high school correspondence courses, and working at the local store. John Smelcer’s spare and lyrical novel moves back and forth between Albert and Johnny. The older man draws on his knowledge, wits, and patience as he struggles to survive over the course of several days, knowing that eventually someone will come looking for him. The teenager grows more and more tense and worried, wanting to respect his grandfather’s independence and trust that he is staying in a cabin near the traplines, but growing ever more fearful that something has happened to the beloved man who has been his principal teacher and guide for most of his life. Set in an Athabaskan community where tradition and pride face constant pressures and challenges from both internal and outside influences, Smelcer’s compelling story illuminates how the bonds of love and the ways of nature are the source of great pain, and also beauty. CCBC Category: Fiction for Young Adults. 2006, Henry Holt, 170 pages, $15.95. Age 12 and older.

Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, August 15, 2006 (Vol. 74, No. 16))
Readers will be clinging to the pages of this graceful, haunting story about a 17-year-old Alaskan Indian searching for his lost grandfather, and about the grandfather trying to survive in the freezing wilderness. Old Albert Least-Weasel still maintains his trap lines, still going out alone, when he finds himself caught in one of his traps. Johnny, his grandson, helps his grandmother and works at his job while worrying about the old man. Smelcer tells their stories in alternating chapters, building suspense as time runs out for Albert. Meanwhile, Johnny reflects on the tiny, dying town in which he finds himself trapped. How rare to find lyrical writing combined with real suspense. Smelcer accentuates the humanity of his characters as he reveals how the strengths of their ancestors survive in these modern people. Equally memorable and enjoyable for children, teens and adults. A small masterpiece. 2006, Henry Holt, 176p, $15.95. Category: Fiction. Ages 10 up. © 2006 Kirkus Reviews/VNU eMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

Elizabeth Bush (The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, October 2006 (Vol. 60, No. 2))
In this taut survival story, alternate chapters follow four days in the lives of Albert Least-Weasel (who has, in a single moment’s negligence over a lifetime of hunting, gotten his foot caught in a trap just a few yards away from his survival gear), and his grandson Johnny Least-Weasel, whose faith in and respect for his grandfather’s abilities conflict with his growing concern for the old man, who is late in returning from checking his traplines. While Johnny’s uncle tries to assuage the teen’s anxieties and urges him to put off a needless search in the brutal subzero Alaskan weather, Albert uses every trick he knows to mine the tree to which he’s chained for food, warmth, and protection from the wolves that grow ever bolder as he inevitably weakens. Each chapter begins with an excerpt from a Native American legend—Johnny’s entries revolve around a young hero who is underestimated by his community, and Albert’s around an old man who surprises his neighbors with his strength. These hero tales accurately mirror the men’s characters, but in the end they do not predict the outcome of the struggle. Johnny reaches and frees his grandfather just in time to be with him at death, and Albert’s previous musings about how this final episode in his life will be talked about in the community now challenge the reader to assess whether Albert was a foolish old man who should have retired years ago or a paragon of will to survive; whether Johnny was a loyal grandson who did his best for his grandfather or a weak teen who allowed himself to be influenced to delay action against his better judgment. This has all the dramatic tension of wilderness adventure stories, with a touch (though less cynical) of Jack London’s “To Build a Fire,” and fans of Gary Paulsen and Will Hobbs should find this a satisfying challenge. Review Code: R -- Recommended. (c) Copyright 2006, The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. 2006, Holt, 176p.; Reviewed from galleys, $15.95. Grades 6-10.

Horn Book (The Horn Book Guide, Spring 2007)
First-time novelist Smelcer tells an unforgettable survival tale set in the Alaskan Arctic. Albert Least-Weasel stumbles into his own wolf-trap while running his trapline. His grandson Johnny fights for honor in a community that has turned from tradition to alcohol and nihilism. Alternating chapters tell their stories over the course of four subzero January days. The resolution provides no easy answers. Category: Older Fiction. 2006, Holt, 170pp, 15.95. Ages 12 to 14. Rating: 2: Superior, well above average.

Matthew Weaver (VOYA, October 2006 (Vol. 29, No. 4))
Beauty abounds in this tiny epic, similar to the sad song that Johnny Least-Weasel's grandfather has sung to his wife throughout their many years of marriage. In this story, Smelcer, of Ahtna Athabaskan Indian descent and the only surviving speaker, reader, and writer of the Ahtna language, seems to straddle the line flawlessly between an ancient legend and contemporary fiction. When Albert Least-Weasel gets his leg caught in a trap in the dead of winter in the middle of the Alaskan wilderness, readers hear the story from both his perspective and that of his grandson left worried back home, even though his grandfather has long been the strongest man that he has ever known. Smelcer never hits a wrong note, particularly when he strikes the more somber ones. His characters act with quiet dignity, either as Johnny frets or as Albert works to survive against the wolves and the looming frost. There is grace to their motions, even when they are sitting still or as they race the clock. The suspense is played on an everyday level, which is why it works; Smelcer never goes for thriller status, electing instead to tell a tale of contemplative melancholy. How long the story lingers in readers' minds really depends on them; one gets the sense that for the author, this is a modern-day Indian story that simply had to be told. VOYA CODES: 5Q 4P M J S (Hard to imagine it being any better written; Broad general YA appeal; Middle School, defined as grades 6 to 8; Junior High, defined as grades 7 to 9; Senior High, defined as grades 10 to 12). 2006, Henry Holt, 176p., $15.95. Ages 11 to 18.