CATSKILL EAGLE

The brief, metaphorical text here—an unabridged excerpt from Moby-Dick—links a soaring eagle to human experience: ``And there is a Catskill eagle in some souls that can alike dive down into the blackest gorges, and soar out of them again and become invisible in the sunny spaces...even in his lowest swoop the mountain eagle is still higher than the other birds...'' Wisely omitting nonessential detail while centering on the effects of light and mist, Locker matches the resonant words with his loveliest illustrations to date, the full spreads—from a violet dawn to a gorgeous crimson sunset—providing romantic backdrops for the noble bird with its young in the nest, catching a fish in a mountain stream, or soaring free. A book that lends itself to creative links: try it with Mayne's more astringent portrait in his extraordinary fantasy novel, Antar and the Eagles (1990). (Picture book. 5+)*justify no*