Petra and the Northern Lights

The little girl Petra, who escapes through a magic mirror to all corners of the world, is taken to Lapland with a Sami boy, Niklas. In the Sami land Petra helps her new friend to save his sister’s engagement. During the trip Petra is amazed by the Northern Lights, hears about Sáiva spirits and gets to know foxes, Niklas’ family’s totem animal, in a completely different way. .

Petra climbed clumsily into the sledge and pulled a warm hide over herself.
Niklas tightened Rasmus’s belts and sat down behind Petra.
—Let’s go and check the fell. That’s where Maaret sometimes goes to talk to her Sáiva spirits.
—What are they?
—They live there at the fell. My Granny gave Maaret hers when Maaret was born, to protect her from gnomes. Maaret was such a pretty baby that everyone was afraid the gnomes would trade her for one of their babies. They do things like that; swap their child for the most beautiful human babies unless you know how to prevent them. It would have been just as well had they taken me. They say that the gnomes have huge riches there under ground. But I was crying so much that they wouldn’t have wanted me anyway. Niklas was chuckling. Petra didn’t think it was funny at all. It was dark everywhere, they had just arrived in a forest. The branches of the trees were almost touching the ground under the weight of the snow, and the stones and rocks looked like they were moving.
—Don’t be scared. The Sáiva spirits are good. You can ask them for help and they protect you. It’s possible that Maaret has gone down to ask advice regarding the engagement.

Petra and the Northern Lights.  Eevamaria Halttunen, kuvitus Anna Härmälä.

ISBN: 978-952-99758-5-3