Author Jeanne Bushey and illustrator Vladyana Krykorka, who together created The Polar Bear’s Gift, collaborate again in this retelling of an Inuit legend about the origin of thunder and lightning. Bushey, who lived for years in the Canadian North, brings her deep love of the place and its stories to this thoughtful tale, in which an orphaned brother and sister are inadvertently abandoned by their people and find a new home with the stars. While the book’s promotional material focuses on the children’s search for a new home, I saw their quest more as a spiritual transformation. That more powerful interpretation may seem a bit intense for the target audience, but the story is gently told in clean, matter-of-fact language that’s always welcoming.

Krykorka’s vibrant illustrations are highlights of the book. Admirers will recognize her work in other Arctic tales, including Michael Kusagak’s fine Baseball Bats for Christmas. Krykorka brings the same luminous energy to Orphans. The design of the whole work turns upon this vivacity. Until Brother and Little Sister decide to join the stars in the sky, full-colour illustrations face spare black-and-white drawings; sometimes those drawings lead into or merge with the colour illustrations, but they always pose a stark contrast. While the children are embracing the sky, readers are offered full-colour spreads until, when their people return in search of them, there’s one more black-and- white drawing. The spare whiteness of the human world contrasts with the vivacity of the sky world; the children have always held within themselves the light and energy of thunder and lightning. They have merely realized their true place.