A Promise Is a Promise

February 1, 1989
Gr 1-3 -Contrary to her mother's advice, Allashua decies to challenge the Qallupilluit, an imaginary Inuit character who lives under the sea ice near her home. Taunting and jeering ("You have dirty noses," "you smell like a dead whale," "you can't catch me") Allashua is pulled down under the sea. Only the promise of returning with her brothers and sisters as a gift to the creatures delays her end. Back home, she is warmed and saved by her wise mother, who tricks the monsters out of rtheir anticipated meal. The entire family is now free to fish on the ice because legend tells that children with their parents may never be captured, and a "promise is a promise." Water color illustrations are pedestrian, with the exception of the Qallupilluit, who is portrayed deftly and with verve. The meter of the text is choppy; the over-use of so, and and but is distracting. Insult, fraticide, and trickery are the messages of A Promise Is a Promise . Nothing good comes of this tale. That's a promise! Reva Pitch Margolis, Norwood School, N.J.