Arthur Catherall (1906–1980)

A true-to-life kind of animal story, easy to read in one sitting. Seemed to me like the author knows animal behavior and the arctic region well. It’s about what happens to a young seal when abandoned by his mother at weaning time. After just sitting around wailing for a while, most of the seal pups gather together and travel to another area where fishing is plentiful. But the seal in this story gets left behind, trapped in an ice cave he hid in during a storm. An unexpected encounter with walrus and the Inuit people hunting them (called Eskimos in this older book) frees him from the ice cave, but then he meets other dangers. Has to avoid orcas, a polar bear, and another encounter with mankind. It’s really chance that saves the young seal from all these threats, some happy circumstances and a sudden act of benevolence by the people (who see the coincidental repeat encounters as a sign of something greater at work). In the end, the seal escapes back into the welcoming sea, where he is happy and relieved to finally meet up with the other seal pups. Nice little story with plenty of unexpected turns, depiction of arctic wildlife and their interactions, and a bit about Inuit culture.… (mais)