• Age: 8 to 12
• Grade: 3 to 6
• Reading age: 8 to 12

When young Tuk is born on the mountain, life is simple for a young bighorn. Run, jump and play with his bandmates, eat and grow strong. But soon it will be up to Tuk to lead the herd to a new mountain he has seen far to the west. It will be a long journey filled with dangers. Wolf, bear, wolverine, puma — and man.

The responsibility to lead the herd sits uneasily on Tuk’s shoulders. But Tuk is the one who has seen the blue mountain in the distance, and his bandmates are counting on him. There is little Mouf, full of questions. There is Sham, who must reach their new lambing grounds before her lamb is born. And there are his male rivals, who challenge his ability to lead them. After all, Tuk is just a yearling, and his horns are not even fully formed.

As the journey lengthens, it becomes more urgent. Swamps and impenetrable forests block their path. Hungry predators demand their due. Human highways and machines and dwellings contaminate formerly pristine valleys.

Yet Tuk finds a way, with the help of his friend Rim, the loyal ewe, Dall, and his trust in Blue Mountain — a place where the bighorn can live in peace, on the gifts that the mountain provides.

Martine Leavitt has published eight novels for young readers, most recently My Book of Life By Angel, which received five starred reviews, was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, a Junior Library Guild Selection, a Horn Book Fanfare book, a Booklist best book of the year, and winner of the Canadian Library Association Young Adult Book of the Year. Other titles include Keturah and Lord Death, a finalist for the National Book Award, Tom Finder, winner of the Mr. Christie's Book Award, and Heck Superhero, a finalist for the Governor General’s Award. Her novels have been published in Japan, Korea, Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, Italy and the Netherlands. Currently she teaches creative writing to graduate students at Vermont College of Fine Arts. She is a mother of seven, grandmother of fifteen, and lives in High River, Alberta.

Martine Leavitt's profile page

The lyrical prose and gravity of Tuk’s quest lend a mythic feel to this memorable and graceful story.

Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW

With its omniscient third-person narrator and mythic feel, the book celebrates the power of story and the beauty of the bighorn sheep’s mountain world.

Horn Book

A gentle but powerful story.

Resource Links

A timeless yet fresh story that beautifully connects readers to the natural world.

Kirkus, STARRED REVIEW

Gentle in tone but never dull – rather, vibrant and rich and real and bright . . . pure, beautiful story.

Globe and Mail