Call Me Ahnighito

From Publishers Weekly
As an author's note explains, Ahnighito is the name of the enormous meteorite now housed in New York City's Museum of Natural History, transported there from the North Pole in 1897. Conrad (The Tub People) imagines the thoughts and feelings of Ahnighito from "her" arrival on earth to her installation in the museum. As cold years go by at the North Pole, various people take an interest, chipping away at the rock; finally, over a series of winters, members of the Peary expedition haul her to the ocean and heave her onto a ship. Life becomes more interesting as Ahnighito travels to Brooklyn, then across Manhattan to the museum. Conrad vividly evokes the journey with arresting details (e.g., all the ship's compasses pointed only to the meteorite on the journey south). Egielski's familiar art takes on a majestic quality in depicting expanses of snow, and he invests Ahnighito with a powerful beauty. City scenes are robustly populated with the artist's stocky figures, and a sense of jubilation mounts as the meteorite at last finds a home. A note of explanation on meteorities would have been useful, but the book will likely excite readers to seek out more information. Ages 6-9. Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From School Library Journal
Grade 1-2?In 1894, Robert E. Peary's team of explorers discovered a car-sized metallic meteorite in Greenland and, after several aborted efforts, hauled it off to New York City. This would be an intriguing story even if conventionally told, but Conrad makes it unforgettable by choosing the meteorite itself to be the narrator. Named by Peary's young daughter (supposedly after her Inuit nanny), Ahnighito joyfully describes how lonely centuries of isolation come at last to an end as it is levered out of the ice, slowly dragged aboard ship, left to languish for years on a dock in the Brooklyn Navy Yards, then trucked across Manhattan to the American Museum of Natural History, where it rests today in proud splendor. Egielski's stubby-limbed workers strain and grimace with the effort of moving the great lump; their period dress and the cityscape through which they move capture the era's look and flavor expertly. For an object whose lifespan can be measured in millions of years, Ahnighito's point of view seems rather confined, but this wonderfully fresh, energetic tale will still have wide appeal.?John Peters, New York Public LibraryCopyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
Ages 5^-8. In a story based on fact, a meteorite lands in Greenland, where it sits for centuries, known only to the people of the Arctic. In 1894 the Peary expedition finds the rock and digs it out of the ground. Later a ship transports it to New York, where it sits on a dock for seven years until it is hauled to the American Museum of Natural History for display. In what can only be described as an odd (and not terribly successful) choice of voice, the story is told in first person from the point of view of the meteorite. If readers can get past the anthropomorphism ("I lay open, exposed, and so alone" ), this does offer interesting details of how the rock was extracted from the ground and its subsequent moves. The rock also communicates its fear of tumbling into the sea, its satisfaction at being christened Ahnighito, and its boredom while sitting on the dock. Well-composed paintings, full of lively depictions of the people and places around Ahnighito, stretch across wide double-page spreads. Throughout the book, Egielski achieves subtle and exceptionally beautiful effects with color, texture, and light. An unusual resource for classroom units on astronomy, geology, or the Arctic. Carolyn Phelan


Book Description
"In 1894, Robert Peary's explorers discovered a car-sized meteorite in Greenland and hauled it off to New York's [American Museum of Natural History]. An intriguing story if conventionally told, Conrad makes it unforgettable by choosing the meteorite itself to be the narrator. [A] wonderfully fresh, energetic tale [with art that captures] the era's look and flavor expertly."--SLJ. Best Books of 1995 (SLJ)
"A Few Good Books 1995" (Book Links)
1996 Notable Trade Books in the Language Arts (NCTE)


Card catalog description
A huge meteorite describes how it lay half-buried in Greenland for centuries until it is finally excavated by members of a Peary expedition and begins a new journey.


About the Author
Pam Conrad wrote many award-winning books for children, including the immensely popular The Tub People and The Tub Grandfather, both illustrated by Richard Egielski. She is also the author of a number of critically acclaimed novels, including Prairie Songs, a 1986 ALA Best Children's Book of the Year and a 1985 ALA Golden Kite Honor Book, and Stonewords, winner of the 1991 Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Juvenile Mystery.


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In a story based on fact, a meteorite lands in Greenland, where it sits for centuries, known only to the people of the Arctic. In 1894 the Peary expedition finds the rock and digs it out of the ground. Later a ship transports it to New York, where it sits on a dock for seven years until it is hauled to the American Museum of Natural History for display. In what can only be described as an odd (and not terribly successful) choice of voice, the story is told in first person from the point of view of the meteorite. If readers can get past the anthropomorphism ("I lay open, exposed, and so alone" ), this does offer interesting details of how the rock was extracted from the ground and its subsequent moves. The rock also communicates its fear of tumbling into the sea, its satisfaction at being christened Ahnighito, and its boredom while sitting on the dock. Well-composed paintings, full of lively depictions of the people and places around Ahnighito, stretch across wide double-page spreads. Throughout the book, Egielski achieves subtle and exceptionally beautiful effects with color, texture, and light. An unusual resource for classroom units on astronomy, geology, or the Arctic.


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