by James Houston Availability: This title usually ships within 2-3 days. Hardcover - 32 pages, illustrated edition (October 1998) This is an extraordinary combination of art, wildlife, natural history, and exoticism, written as if a well-loved old uncle were sharing his stories. Houston lived for years among the Inuit, studied their art, and taught his own. He left the Arctic in the early 1960s to design for Steuben glass. In simple, vivid sentences, he describes how different his life was in New York. Then he describes in general terms how his drawings get translated into glass and sculpture, and how glass is made at the great Steuben glassworks. The pages are full of color photographs of Steuben bears, trout, dolphins, and exquisitely detailed animal portraits in etched crystal. Houston describes the dance of the cranes ("wearing their bright, red-feathered helmets"), illustrated in one of his designs, and relates the tale, without giving away the secret, of how hard it was to replicate Excalibur, King Arthur's sword, in the Steuben glass sculpture. Besides the photographs, many of Houston's drawings are reproduced, so readers can see a sketch turn into a completed work of art. This hard-to-classify title will amply reward those who find it. GraceAnne A. DeCandido, Booklist