Night of the White Deer

September 1, 2012
Some say the white deer's a star, and others say she's made of spilled milk. Could she be real? A modern farm boy sees a white deer in their field. His brother says it's only legend, but the boy sees the deer again. This time he walks into the fields and leaps into the Aurora-lit sky with his mysterious white companion. The boy feels the magic of the flight, and they encounter deer of several species and widely varying colors at play in the fields of night. The boy contemplates a trip through the solar system, but his deer takes him home. When the boy tells his family of his journey, his brother's certain it was a dream. Left alone with his father, the boy learns his dad had a similar adventure as a child...and Dad wants to go along should the white deer return. Bushnell's fourth is an original tale told as a quasi-folk tale. Unlike traditional tales though, no mystery of nature is explained, caution offered or quest fulfilled. A traditional-feeling tale from no tradition and with no specific moral is rather like a chicken without bones. That said, it's a pleasant-enough fable, and newcomer Co's bright and burnished illustrations enhance both magical and natural aspects, bringing to mind the works of David Diaz. A slight magical tale whose illustrations can't quite compensate for the weak story. (Picture book. 3-6)

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April 1, 2013

K-Gr 2-This self-described modern folktale creates a mythology around the aurora borealis. A farm boy hears stories of a mysterious white deer with unknown origins that some believe to be a star. His father is cagey when the subject comes up, and his older brother teases him for believing the stories. One night, the deer appears and the boy follows her on a journey into the sky, which blazes with colors that turn out to be gazelles, elk, antelope, and deer "dancing the dance of the aurora." The boy travels through space until the white deer brings him back home. When he relates his adventure to his family, his brother again mocks him, but his father tells him that when he was a child, he had also journeyed with the white deer. The father asks if they can travel together if the white deer returns, and the boy, feeling a new connection with him, agrees. There are some beautiful moments in the text, but the overall flow of the story is choppy. Likewise, some of the illustrations are remarkable, while others seem cramped and fail to capture the grandeur and scale of the boy's journey in space. Solidly grounded in a rural farming community, the book has a strong sense of place; unfortunately neither illustrations nor text gel into more than the sum of their parts.-Anna Haase Krueger, Ramsey County Library, White Bear Lake, MN

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