Kami and the Yaks

Just before the start of a new trek, a Sherpa family discovers that their yaks are missing. Young Kami, anxious to help his brother and father maintain their livelihood, sets off by himself to find the wandering herd. A spunky deaf child who is unable to speak, Kami attempts to summon the yaks with his shrill whistle. Failing to rout them, he hustles up the steep mountainside to search the yaks' favorite grazing spots. On the way he encounters the rumblings of a fierce storm which quickly becomes more threatening. Surmounting his fear of being alone in the midst of treacherous lightning and hail, Kami uses his heightened sense of observation to finally locate the yaks. Reunited with their animals, the astonished family is once again able to transport their gear and guide the mountain climbers into the majestic terrain.

Andrea Stenn Stryer is a teacher, a librarian, and the author of The Celestial River: Creation Tales of the Milky Way. She lives in Stanford, California. Bert Dodson is a painter, a teacher, the illustrator of more than 70 children's books, and the author of Drawing & Imagination and Keys to Drawing. He was also an animation designer for the four-part PBS television series, Intimate Strangers. He lives in Bradford, Vermont.