A young white narrator describes how her family goes to the Alaskan tundra every summer to run a commercial salmon fishing operation, and this year, for the first time, she will be part of the fishing crew. In the meantime, her little brothers continue to do all the things she’s been part of in the past (chasing lemmings, searching for agates). While she’ll miss out on the fun, she is proud to be working with her mom on the crew. The text and pen-and-ink and gouache illustrations show the hard work involved in commercial fishing. There are details about the work (having to get up at 2:30 a.m., the difficulty of tying the net to the rope with a knot she’s practiced over and over, eating cold spaghetti with her mom during a break “while rain blows sideways up our noses”). The family work tradition is emphasized with the frequently repeated phrase: “It’s what we do.” There are four pages of additional information at the end placing the story within the author and illustrator’s own family experience—the illustrator’s family started this business when she was two. The endnote also discusses how Alaskan Native peoples rely on salmon, and clarifies that this family’s summer activities are a business venture. (Ages 5-8)

Sunrise Summer is a picture book by writer Matthew Swanson and illustrator Robbi Behr that celebrates self-confidence and empowerment, as a girl’s role changes in her family’s fishing expeditions.

When a girl and her family travel four thousand miles from home, it’s not your typical summer vacation. Everything is different on the Alaskan tundra—where the grizzly bears roam and the sockeye salmon swim—including the rules. A girl can do things she wouldn’t, and couldn’t, do at home.

She can wake up at midnight to work with her mom on a fishing crew. She can learn what it means to be an essential part of a team. She can become a braver, stronger, and ever-more capable version of herself. She can take her next big step.

She’s ready for her first real sunrise.


An Imprint Book