Salmon Creek

Steve Pitt is a Toronto-based freelance writer and an award-winning journalist. He has written many young adult and children's books, including Day of the Flying Fox: The True Story of World War II Pilot Charley Fox.

“These were Sumi’s first memories: water over stones, the scent of
creek, darkness so complete she could barely imagine another world
larger than the egg case enclosing her. Sumi was blind, but she could
hear the wind whispering through the cedars. She could hear the creek
stones lifting and falling as the salmon mothers built their nests. And
if she pressed against the curve of her egg, she could hear her salmon
mother singing.”

The above excerpt is the opening of this unusual book which combines
sound scientific fact with lovely lyrical writing. Annette LeBox was
inspired to write this book after witnessing coho salmon battling their
way up a mountain stream near her home in Maple Ridge, British Columbia.
First she consulted with fishery biologists to get her facts straight,
and then she let her inner poet take over. The result is a science book
that reads like a prose poem. Karen Reczuch’s illustrations are also a
combination of fact and fantasy. On the one hand, they are extremely
realistic renderings of salmon in their habitat. On the other, her use
of perspective and color gives each illustration panel a “good enough
to be framed” appeal. After reading this book, you may feel a twinge
of conscience the next time you open a can of salmon. Highly
recommended.