Sky Man on the Totem Pole? has some fine moments in it [but] … Christie Harris attempts too many disparate tasks. Ultimately Sky Man falls apart from lack of internal unity or sense of development. The heart of the book, and its real strength, is its retelling of the legends of [the] people of Temlaham; the adaptation of such legends into exciting and appealing stories for children is Mrs. Harris's forte. (pp. 117-18)

The chief weakness of Sky Man is the didacticism which imposes a kind of superficial unity on the disparate elements of the book, but which is obtrusive, often shrill, and remains stated rather than felt. Didacticism is certainly not alien to fantasy—George MacDonald and C. S. Lewis are two notable practitioners of both—but to avoid stifling the fantasy it must remain implicit, must be at the heart of the author's vision, rather than a...