SALMON SUMMER, written and illustrated by Bruce McMillan, Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, 1998, 32 pages, $16.

Are your spouse and children more interested in hunting and fishing than they are in reading? Do they get sort of grumpy when the inevitable nasty weekend weather keeps them house bound? Get them hooked on a good book with Bruce McMillan’s “Salmon Summer.”

In “Salmon Summer” readers get the chance to experience a way of life open to few outsiders. Alex, a very appealing 9-year-old native Aleut, engages in sustenance — noncommercial — fishing with his family every summer when salmon return to streams to spawn. He helps his father set and pick fish out of the gill net, clean those fish and check crab traps. Finally he is able to line fish for fun. Alex catches and releases salmon after salmon until he reels in a male humpy he will use as bait to catch the halibut that will become his favorite snack — tamuuq.

Mainer McMillan was privileged to spend three weeks with Alex and his family at their native Alaskan fish camp on Kodiak Island. “It couldn’t have been a better experience. They really made me a part of their family,” he said.

He found in Alex a kindred spirit. “He just loves to fish. The minute he catches a fish he wants to let it go. He has no interest in keeping it. When I finish a book I let it go. I go on and do the next one. The joy is not in catching the prize. It’s in getting out there and doing it.”

Parents and children alike will find Alex irresistible. Children will admire his fishing ability — particularly when he catches a halibut nearly as big as himself. Parents will cherish the exuberance of young boyhood that shines through even as he engages in the very real and adult task of helping provide food for his family.

Throughout the book there is an emphasis on the abundance of salmon for humans and animals alike. Alex shares his catch with people who are too old to fish. A bear and eagles hunt their own meals. Magpies, gulls, and a fox that lived with her babies under McMillan’s cabin feast on the fish scraps Alex leaves for them. There is a sense of harmony rather than competition, of gleaning what one and one’s family will need rather than hoarding.

McMillan’s photography is superb. A mother bear lumbers through a stream with her catch, a wary cub peeking over her shoulder. An eagle soars through the sky. The moon rises, casting a silvery path over the water. A camouflaged salmon blends in with the silt of the stream bottom. The cover picture — Alex beaming with pride as he holds up a salmon he has caught — will hook those who share his love of fishing.

Growing up in Bangor, McMillan had a love of books kindled in him by visits with his father to the Bangor Public Library. Other fond memories include riding his bike to the W.T. Grant store each time a new Hardy Boys book came out. He has had 41 books published and has received many awards and honors. He takes great pride in doing all his own work from research through writing and photography to editing.

Alex’s grandfather had very much wanted McMillan to do this book to teach the outside world about his culture. He has since died. For McMillan the opportunity to spend time with him, listen to his stories and gain a real sense of his way of life was one of the most rewarding aspects of his journey.

McMillan would like readers to use “Salmon Summer” as a way to travel to another culture and experience their way of life. “Maybe then you go fishing with a new eye about what you’re doing,” he said.

So next time you wake up to a gloomy Saturday and find your family outdoor enthusiasts moaning that there’s nothing to do, cast out your copy of “Salmon Summer” and see if you can reel them in.