In addition to the usual Alaskana fare, visitors to Title Wave, Pandemonium and a handful of other places that sell books will encounter a rarer sort of homegrown offering—one that owes more to Aesop’s Fables and medieval morality plays than it does to Jack London.

The slim volume is titled Luk’ae.

It’s a story told in comic book—er, graphic novel—form about the life of a generation of Cook Inlet king salmon from spawning to spawning. Chickaloon’s Patricia Wade conceived and wrote the book, and her son, Dimi Macheras, drew the eye-catching illustrations. Inspiration from the project came from Wade’s work in the schools, telling traditional Ahtna stories and legends that had been passed down to her from her mother and grandmother.

“Several years ago I realized some of the kids had heard the same five stories several times and I wished I had a new one to share,” she says. “My reason for this story was not only to try and create a new story in the ancient style, but to focus on health of the environment and salmon. I knew how kids responded to the illustrations, so I felt confident this book would be well received.”

With a small grant from the Puffin Foundation, she was able to pay her son for the illustrating work (she did the writing herself, and published the book at her own expense).

The book hits a number of issues, particularly the environmental challenges that salmon face, from discharge out of Anchorage and offshore oil and gas platforms to habitat degradation to invasive species (specifically pike).

But if those parts of the story are meant to be taken more or less literally, there’s an allegorical thread that runs through the book, too. The protagonist fish have two cousins, Earl and Merle, who discover a plentiful source of junk food in their spawning grounds. Because they don’t have to work for their food, they decide to forego their ocean sojourn and spend their lives hanging out in their natal stream, gorging on soda and donuts and whatever else floats their way. When the rest of the fish return, they are—predictably—fat and grotesque, not to mention too unfit to spawn (even an eagle declines to eat one).

The moral is clear.

“I felt the subject of nutrition is not only timely but so overdue,” Wade says. “I grew up eating wild game for most of our meat, but added to that was all the sugar and white flour products. I could see the progression from my grandparents’ generation to the younger people and the health problems we face today. I felt that through this ridiculous story I could reach children and they would ‘get it’ about either eating healthy and living a good life or eating junk food and not even be able to procreate. My mother had diabetes and heart problems and those and similar conditions are running rampant in most of our communities.”

In addition to local stores, Wade has worked to get copies of Luk’ae into the hands of educators, since it’s aimed at reached still-malleable kids, before bad habits are formed.

“The Indian Ed department in the Mat-Su Borough purchased some, and I’m hoping Anchorage will do the same,” she says. “They’re reviewing Luk’ae with some classes to see the response, as I understand it. I also sent a copy to Michelle Obama as it fits right into her healthy children initiatives. I even sent one to Oprah, so here’s hoping…”

krestia.degeorge@anchoragepress.com