Very Last First Time

by Jan Andrews, Ian Wallace (Illustrator)

Eva Padlyat lived in an Inuit village on Ungava Vat in northern Canada. In winter, when people wanted mussels to eat, they searched along the bottom of the seabed. Eva had often walked on the bottom, helping her mother, but today – for the very first time – she was to go down below the thick sea ice herself. Her mother went with her to the shore and out onto the ice. The time was just right. The outgoing tide had pulled the seawater away, leaving only the ice above and the rock-strewn seabed below.
Eva lowered herself through a hole in the ice and, by candlelight, had soon gathered a pan full of mussels. There was still time to explore, she decided. But she stumbled and her candle went out. She was alone in the darkness, and the tide had turned. When, at the end of her adventure, she is safe with her mother again on top of the ice, she says, "that was my very last first time for walking alone on the bottom of the sea."

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Canada, Geography, Fiction, Cultural, Adventure

32 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 1985

About the author

Jan Andrews lives down the end of a road on a lake and has a passion for the Canadian wilderness. As a storyteller, she has a particular love for the traditional folk and fairy tales. She has read from the world’s great epics and, during summer weekends, has organized complete retellings of both The Iliad and The Odyssey. Her writing comes out of a conviction that young people can find, within themselves, all they need to manage in their lives. She also knows the power of humor as a means of finding the way through the darkness and delights in a rollicking good tale. She is the author of ten books for children, several of which have been shortlisted for major awards.

Reviews

[Barb Middleton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Imagine it is the middle of winter. Imagine you are with your mother going to find mussels. Imagine crawling through a hole in the ice, but instead of landing in icy water, you land on mud! The tide is out and your new-found ice cave has seaweed for carpet and icicles that hang from the thick ice roof like stalactites in a cave. Your mother doesn’t come with you as lower yourself into blackness, but she holds a flashlight over the hole like a beacon. You have to find mussels and you can’t get lost or you will drown when the tide comes in. This is what Eva has to do on a frigid winter day in northern Canada at her Inuit village. And it is her “very last, first time” she’ll do such a thing!

This is a fun book to read to grade 4 students. It is unpredictable and full of tension. The students are puzzled that it sounds like Eva and her mother are going for a swim because in the picture they are putting on their parkas. The students’ faces continue to crinkle in confusion when on the next page Eva and her mother walk through the Inuit village pulling sleds. The watercolor illustrations are beautiful and Ian Wallace, the illustrator has hidden images in the pictures. This is one of those books I can read again, and again, and again.

There is an excellent guide from Pacific Publishing on how to read this book aloud or with a child. The author explains on her website that she based this novel on something that Inuits do in Ungava Bay in Canada.

[Dolly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a wonderful tale about a young girl who goes under the ice for the first time by herself to collect mussels. We had never heard of such a thing and for us, the adventure was scary, exciting and mystical. The drama of the tale toward the end had us on the edge of our seats, but of course, as this is a children's picture book, the story ends happily. The narrative is very engaging and entertaining and the illustrations are wonderful. We really enjoyed reading this story together.

[Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting story about an Inuit girl who gathers mussels on her own for the first time. What makes the story really remarkable is that she does this by going under the ice and walking the sea floor when the tide is out!!! The illustrations help to convey this almost otherworldly, magical experience. I think it would really fascinate many children.

[Mathew · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story follows the journey of Eva's, who lives with her family on Ungava Bay (northeastern Canada). As an Inuit, it becomes her role to walk on the bottom of the sea alone in order to collect mussels from a cave under the ice whilst the tide has receded. An event, judging by the wonderful and mysterious carvings in the cave, her people have done for centuries.

During this transition from youth to adult, she finds herself alone in the darkness and yet her ancestors are there with her. She must conquer her fear of being alone and make this transition alone. This is a wonderful picturebook for many reasons the main one being how surreal and different Eva's life will appear to those reading it in the classroom and yet her battle with the fear of being alone and that transition into a new stage in your life as you grow up will resonate with all readers. Plenty to look at here and explore with Wallace's fantastic illustrations.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reads as if mythopoeic, also as if #ownvoices. I trust the history, the details revealed in the art of clothing, tools, housing, etc, and also of the biology of the tidal sea cave and the art of the ancestors. Too bad there's no note, but I still believe this is worthy of status as a classic, and of reprints to keep it in libraries.

Especially good for educators, of course, and not just of 'exotic cultures.' Really good example of strong (but not spunky or kick-ass) women, authentically holding to traditions to nourish their bodies and spirits.

[P.S. Winn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written tale goes into the cold life of the north following Eva Padlyat as she struggles through her days.

[Ch_jank-caporale · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very Last First Time is an interesting picture book. It has beautiful illustrations and tells an amazing true-tale. Eva Padlyat, an Inuit girl of perhaps nine or ten, lives in a village in Canada without an igloo in sight! Her home and kitchen look like yours or mine and so do the sleds and snow mobiles the people use to get around on the winter snow. But Eva goes on an exciting adventure, common to most people of her village: she climbs beneath the frozen ice to walk on the sea bottom to gather mussels. The eery descriptions of sea life beneath ice but not water sparked my imagination as it does Eva's, and the palpable fear Eva feels when her candles blow out frighten me, too. The book provides insight into a little known world outside of far northern cultures and delighted my senses.

[Kim Bitner · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's books like this that make me so thankful that we are doing Five In A Row! This is a book I would not have discovered without FIAR, and it is so rich with learning opportunities!

Eva experiences Arctic mussel hunting by herself for the first time. With the tide out, Eva descends to the ocean floor beneath the Arctic ice, and collects mussels for her family. She is brave in the face of danger, and keeps a calm, cool head when she could have panicked.

The language of the story is filled with rich verbs that expanded the kids' vocabulary, the setting introduced us to a place and culture in our own country that we are not familiar with (the frozen tundra and ocean of Ungava Bay), and the illustrations were a colourful feast for the eyes.

We discussed how to behave in a crisis situation (keeping calm), were introduced to the science of turning tides as they relate to the moon's gravitational pull on the earth, and watched videos about Inuit mussel hunters. A highlight was a video that showed how the Inuit build igloos- an engineering marvel!

So happy to have added this book to our curriculum for the year!

[Kristin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is one that has value even though it isn’t the most well-written book. The story and setting opened our eyes to something we had never heard of and the pictures are beautiful. It was really neat to learn a little about an everyday part of life that is so different from ours- the little girl harvest mussels under a layer of ice- and it left you wanting to know more. We had no idea the ocean could recede and ice stay in place like that and it made for a fascinating setting. But the problem with the book is there a lot to the story that is not explained- why is she alone? Where did her mom go? What do they do afterwards? There is all this detail and then it’s over, and all of a sudden a big deal is made of it being the last time to do something first. Well, ok, but... that really seemed beside the point. It’s just incomplete. I’m glad we learned about this, but there’s nothing to bring us back again for a re-read.

[Carla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eva Padlyat lived in an Inuit village on Ungava Bay, in Nunavut, a territory in northern Canada. In the winter, the people would cut a hole in the thick ice and search along the bottom of the seabed for mussels when the tide was out. Today was the day that Eva was going to do this alone, without her mother, for the very first time. Eva lowered herself through a hole in the ice and, by candlelight, had soon gathered a pan full of mussels. There was still time to explore, so she wandered about, looking at all the amazing things, not realizing how far she had gone. When she stumbled and lost her candle, she was alone in the darkness. Will she be able to get back to her mother to pull her out before the tide rushed back in?

This is a wonderful story with fantastic illustrations. There is tension, lots to talk about and predict. It also shares a custom that the Inuit culture has. There is

[Kim Bogren Owen · Rating 5 out of 5]

For the first time, a girl goes alone under the ice while the tide it out to gather mussels. Once she has filled her bucket, she begins to explore but must hurry back once the tide turns. After she returns from under the ice, she tells her mother it was the last time she would go there for the first time. A wonderful book about the pride children feel as they begin to take steps towards independence.

[Peacegal · Rating 4 out of 5]

How fascinating that human beings actually do walk on the seafloor under frozen, luminous ice. I had no idea such a thing could be done, and this book relates a true Inuit custom of collecting mussels at low tide. The story and illustrations have a dreamlike quality. I was a little unnerved that the young girl's mother didn't show more concern when her daughter arrives from her first solo outing so late.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's been many years since I read this Tomy daughter with our Five in a Row curriculum, but returning to it now, I like this book much better than I remembered. Really interesting illustrations lead to lots of rabbit trails discussions and finding hidden creatures. The story is sweet, but also full of real danger and puts the reader on edge before the happy ending.

Kids really enjoy watching video of the real-life Inuit tradition of undersea mussel hunting after reading the book.

[Angela · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was given this as a supply teacher to read aloud to a class of grade 3s. They were enthralled, as was I as I hadn’t ever heard of this practice of mussel collecting beneath the ice myself. The beautiful artwork that cleverly uses shifts in cast colours to convey feelings was a talking point after I was done reading too. This is a book I want to have a personal copy of.

[Lynn Davidson · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a wonderful story of an Inuit girl who walked on the ocean floor under the ice to gather mussels while the tide was out. It is an exciting, breath-holding story when she's faced with danger. Beautiful illustrations.

[Hannah Knight · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book shows us what the culture and climate is like for the Inuit people. Children can do amazing things if parents and teachers let them. Children need to explore on their own. When they find what they are looking for, they become very happy and know what to look for again.

[Engel Dreizehn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remember having to study this book back in elementary school when learning about the Inuit and Northern Canada which this book does a good job of through the illustration and the wonderful last, first time of walking along the bottom of the ocean.

[Isabelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic story!

[Danette · Rating 3 out of 5]

7/9/18 Read with Naomi & Julia

[Chou Yuko · Rating 3 out of 5]

The narrative is very engaging and entertaining, and the illustrations are wonderful. I really enjoyed reading this story.

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

Exploring the bottom of the sea under ice! Interesting!!

[Jenny Hartfelder · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent book to learn about a slice of the Inuit life ...

#passportaroundtheworld

[Sandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting Inuit story. My daughter enjoyed this tale of a girl's first time exploring the sea floor by herself. A fascinating look at Inuit life.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

A young girl goes below the ice to collect mussels for her family in the Arctic.

[Jeani · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learned something new reading this book!

[Heidi · Rating 4 out of 5]

5 in a row book

[Christine Joy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting setting and I just love the pointillism parts of the illustrations

[Anna Zehr · Rating 4 out of 5]

A compelling window into another culture--an Inuit girl explores under the ice when the tide is out.

[Sarah Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Precious story. Beautiful illustrations.

[Dawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Worldview - Universally Acceptable

Setting:
Location - Ungava Bay, Arctic Time Period - Current

Review
An exciting story that will fascinate young and old alike. Eva, a young Inuit girl goes to gather clams by herself for the very first time. Her mother cuts a hole through the ice and lowers Eva onto the sea bed. When the tide goes out a cave is left under the ice. Using a flashlight Eva gathers the clams, but she decides to explore when she is finished. Fascinated by all that she sees she wanders too far and must find her way back to the hole in the ice before the tide comes in.

Lovely artwork complements the text making this a perfect read aloud for young children.
This book is included in the curriculum of Five in a Row, a homeschool curriculum for young readers.

Teacher Application
This is a very fun way to introduce the arctic environment, as well as a very interesting look at the life of one group of Inuit people.
An excellent free reproducible teachers guide is available from Pacific Edge Publishing
https://www.pacificedgepublishing.com...

Character Traits Taught
Courage
Clear Thinking
Responsibility (Eva does her work before exploring)

Parental Warning
N/A