by Jared Cullum
2020 / 176 pages
Katya is spending the summer in a cottage in the woods of Alaska with her “Meema” (or grandmother). And while she’d be content to spend her time just reading comics, Meema sends her to town to go buy a Slurpee, and maybe find a new friend too.
On the way home through the forest, Katya takes a tumble into a ravine. The fall knocks the wind out of her, but there’s someone else there in the ravine with her who is in a bit more trouble – an enormous bear has been pinned down by a tree. Katya does what every sensible kid should do when confronted with an injured bear – she sings to it, then rushes off to an adult to get help bringing it home.
Up to this point the book had been fairly “realistic” – I’m not talking the drawing style, which, while gorgeous is definitely still cartoony. What I’m referring to is that nature was nature, and civilization was civilization, and so when Katya met the bear, we weren’t expecting it to talk. It was an animal, and this didn’t seem the sort of book where the critters were going to be anthropomorphized. But, the author goes halfsies here, with the bear, named Kodi by Katya, not exactly a 100% realistic wild animal, and not exactly a person either. Kodi turns out to be kind of half person/half pet.
When Katya and her Meema have to fly back to Seattle to care for a sick relative, they have to leave Kodi behind. But Kodi isn’t having that. He stows away on a cruise ship, gets off in Seattle, and starts searching the city streets for his friend Katya. There he meets a sailor who is willing to help, leading, eventually, to a reunion and a very happy ending.
Cautions
The one caution here concerns the sailor who has just one leg. In a flashback we see how he lost his leg – his boat landed on it, crushing it. That struck me as a bit out of keeping with this otherwise pretty lightweight fare. But it isn’t shown in any detail, so, not much of a concern at all.
I was wondering where Katya’s mom and dad were – mom is mentioned only briefly and dad never is – but we can presume they are back in Seattle. It’s never explained.
Conclusion
This is a beautifully painted comic. While it’s intended for maybe 12 and under, older readers could enjoy it just for the artwork. Overall, this is just a wonderfully sweet and gentle story, a throwback to a simpler sort of comic that has no weird agendas to push. Highly recommended!
