Himalaya

Author: Tenzing Norbu Lama
Illustrated by: Tenzing Norbu Lama
Hardcover: 32 page(s)
Age Range: 6 +
Ontario curriculum: Language - Reading...Social Studies - Heritage and Identity

Book Description:

In a remote village, high in the Himalayas, Tsering waits impatiently for the return of the salt caravan that his father led into the central valleys of Nepal. But when the yaks finally appear in a cloud of dust, Tsering can scarcely believe his eyes. Draped across one of the animals is the lifeless body of his father. Tsering's grandfather, Tinle, blames Karma, his son's best friend for the death. "You want to be the new chief. You killed my son on purpose!" Even though Tsering is too young to succeed his father as chief, his grandfather refuses to let Karma take over. When Karma embarks on the next caravan ahead of the day decreed by the wise lamas, Tinle is furious. He will lead the village elders on another caravan himself with the help of his young grandson. At the last minute they are joined by Tinle's remaining son, the Buddhist monk, Norbu.

This story tells how the larger than life Tinle battles age, the elements and his own terrible temper to help his people and train his grandson to be the new chief of the Dolpopo.

School Library Journal
An extraordinary look at another culture beginning with exquisite calligraphy in Nepali script facing the title page and continuing throughout the tale. It is the story of a simple community in the remote Dolpo region of Nepal as the people make their annual trek to Tibet to collect rock salt, then cross the steep mountain passes into the valleys to trade it for grain. On the way, the group's leader-son to one central character and father to another-dies. A new leader must complete the trip, and herein lies conflict. A former chief senses that his son's death was caused and leadership position was assumed by a jealous upstart. He sees his young grandson as the new chief, if not immediately, at least for the future, and decides to lead the caravan himself. When the younger villagers decline to follow him, he travels to a monastery where another of his sons, a lama, is recruited to accompany him. The story becomes one of two caravans, almost two ideologies, engaged in not only their physical survival but also the survival of their culture-the "upstarts" who leave immediately and the elders who wait for the day decreed by the wise lamas of the village. Inspired by the French documentary of the same name, this handsomely designed book's text and art meld seamlessly. Most of the dramatic and culturally rich paintings are done in blues and grays and seem to parallel the isolation, deprivation, and hardships of the Himalayas.