Beyond Alaskas Window

In Beyond Alaska’s Window, a young girl living in Alaska celebrates its seasons while honoring her family’s Jamaican heritage. Inspired by memories of her own childhood, Patrice Gopo offers a decidedly fresh take on seasonal change and family cultural traditions, blending the two seamlessly.

Gopo’s evocative prose conjures the excitement that each season offers in the 49th state, whether it be jumping off the roof into snowbanks, pouncing through spring puddles or taking a summer day trip to a glacier. No matter the season, though, this family of four celebrates their Jamaican roots each Sunday, dancing to calypso rhythms with the girls’ grandmother or inhaling the aromas of their mother’s Jamaican rice and peas. Throughout, Gopo gives gentle nods to the vast differences between these two places and their cultures—noting, for instance, “As we eat, Daddy adds a Scotch bonnet pepper to his plate, a bit of heat despite the cold.”

Monica Mikai beautifully illustrates how this family has blended their Jamaican and Alaskan worlds, highlighting the bright colors of the family’s Jamaican clothes, furnishings and meals, set against the Alaskan landscape glimpsed through the windows. Whether inside or out, each scene radiates with joy, family love and celebration of the natural world.

There is much to take in with each spread, including terms like breakup boots, termination dust and ackee, which are included in the narrative and later defined in a glossary. Also included is a recipe for this family’s Sunday dish, an enticing touch after repeated mentions.

Beyond Alaska’s Window is a joyful celebration of blended culture that will appeal to many young readers, whatever their heritage may be.