This deceptively simple story packs a wallop. With a minimalist setting, simple storyline, and only two key characters, it celebrates the wonders of a northern winter night and speaks quietly to readers about such worthy themes as tradition, initiation, sisterhood, and growing independence.

SkySisters introduces a young girl setting out with her older sister to see the northern lights or SkySpirits for the first time. The experience is one the girls know their mother and her younger sister shared years ago. They sense the night will be one of adventure, surprise, and beauty. Their wise mother knows about the bonding that will occur.

Jan Bourdeau Waboose, a Nishinawbe Ojibway, invites readers to see significance in quiet moments and seemingly small events. Her Morning on the Lake, an intergenerational story illustrated by Karen Reczuch, won considerable critical attention in 1997. In SkySisters, Brian Deines (illustrator of Janet Lunn’s Charlotte and Julie Lawson’s Bear on the Train) has a showcase for 15 wonderful oil paintings. Waboose and Deines make a dynamic picture book team. Her text of sibling rivalry and affection, whispers, shouts, and varied tempos begs for dramatic reading. His jewel-toned art breathes, shimmers, and dances in keeping with the story’s spirit.

This frosty story, complete with icicles and snow angels, will delight sisters and warm the hearts of questers young and old. Teachers responsible for units on winter or the themes mentioned above will appreciate SkySisters and find it a good companion for Ian Wallace’s A Winter’s Tale. Readers of the book’s dedication page will find the translation and pronunciation guides for the three Anishinawbe Ojibway words used in the story.