The Origin of Day and Night by P.I. Rumbolt

Rumbolt, Paula Ikuutaq. The Origin of Day and Night. Iqaluit, NV, Inhabit Media, 2018. This book is another in Inhabit Media’s collection of works that document traditional Inuit stories. Origin stories, which explain why things are the way they are, are common in Inuit storytelling. This one tells us how night and day came to be. In the time when animals and words had special powers, the Tiri, the Arctic fox, and Ukaliq, the Arctic hare, both want to hunt. The fox can see in the dark, so he uses his words to keep the world dark. The hare needs light to see, so she uses her words to bring light. They change night to day and day to night, frustrating each other, until they agree to give each other “enough time to find a meal or two” before changing the light. As a result, we have night and day. Lenny Lishchenko’s illustrations are simple, but support the story effectively. They are mainly in blacks, blues and whites, appropriate to night and day. The animals are outlined in black on white or white on black, with a few details added. There are a few reds and yellows, for the animals’ eyes, the sun, meat and berries. This rendition of the story will capture the interest of the young children, who are the intended audience. Highly recommended for public and elementary school libraries, as well as collections that specialize in polar children’s literature. Highly Recommended: 4 out of 4 starsReviewer: Sandy Campbell Sandy is a Health Sciences Librarian at the University of Alberta, who has written hundreds of book reviews across many disciplines. Sandy thinks that sharing books with children is one of the greatest gifts anyone can give.

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Sweetest Kulu by C. Kalluk

The Deakin Review of Children s Literature ◽

10.20361/g2ns3m ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 5 (3) ◽

Author(s):

Sandy Campbell

Keyword(s):

Public Libraries ◽

School Libraries ◽

Character Trait ◽

Read Aloud ◽

The Arctic ◽

Small Children ◽

University Of Alberta ◽

Arctic Hare ◽

The University

Kalluk, Celina. Sweetest Kulu. Illus. Alexandria Neonakis. Iqaluit, NU: Inhabit Media Inc., 2014. Print.“Kulu” is an Inuktitut term of endearment for babies and small children. In this work, traditional throat singer and author, Celina Kalluk, shows all of the gifts that nature brings to a newborn baby. The images show the baby cradled and adored by many creatures. Each creature brings a character trait as a gift for the baby. “Caribou chose patience for you, cutest Kulu. He gave you the ability to look to the stars, so that you will always know where you are and may gently lead the way”. With each gift, Kalluk uses a different adjective to describe the baby – happy Kulu, admired Kulu, beloved Kulu. Illustrator, Alexandria Neonakis has created an image for each animal in rich and deep colours. The images spread over two facing pages with text over-printed. Each image is gentle and tender. The baby is shown nestled between the front hooves of a musk-ox, curled up against a polar bear or snuggled up in the paws of an Arctic hare. The baby is reflected in the water when the Arctic char brings a gift of tenderness.This book is a beautiful representation of a mother’s love for her baby reflected in the traditional Inuit connection to the land and nature. It is a calming and peaceful book, which will become a bedtime read-aloud favourite. Highly recommended for elementary school libraries, public libraries and babies’ rooms everywhere.Highly Recommended: 4 stars out of 4Reviewer: Sandy CampbellSandy is a Health Sciences Librarian at the University of Alberta, who has written hundreds of book reviews across many disciplines. Sandy thinks that sharing books with children is one of the greatest gifts anyone can give.

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Lesson for the Wolf by R. & S. Qitsualik-Tinsley

The Deakin Review of Children s Literature ◽

10.20361/g2xw34 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 5 (4) ◽

Author(s):

Sandy Campbell

Keyword(s):

Elementary School ◽

School Libraries ◽

Health Sciences ◽

The Arctic ◽

University Of Alberta ◽

Starting Point ◽

Face Length ◽

Good Starting Point ◽

The University

Qitsualik-Tinsley, Rachel and Sean Qitsualik-Tinsley. Lesson for the Wolf. Illus. Alan Cook. Iqaluit, NU: Inhabit Media, 2015. Print.The writing duo of Rachel and Sean Qitsualik-Tinsley are back with a story about being comfortable in your own skin, literally. The wolf in this story is not happy to be a wolf, so with the help of “the magic of the land”, he acquires owl’s feathers, the wolverine’s tail and the caribou’s antlers. But he cannot fly like the owl or eat lichen like the caribou and he is too different from the wolves, so he becomes sad, lonely and starves. Eventually he learns the beauty of being himself and the magic of the land restores him. The story is a lovely Arctic fable on the lesson of being true to one’s self. Alan Cook’s paintings capture the wildness of the Arctic, with sweeping brush-strokes and suggestions of distant landscapes. The animals are all cartoon-like creatures, sometimes verging on caricature. Both the wolves and the caribou are drawn with over-accentuated face length and extreme thinness of the abdomen. Children who are struggling to be satisfied with and confident in their identities may be able to identify with the wolf. This book would be a good starting point for discussion. Highly recommended for elementary school libraries and public libraries.Highly recommended: 4 stars out of 4Reviewer: Sandy CampbellSandy is a Health Sciences Librarian at the University of Alberta, who has written hundreds of book reviews across many disciplines. Sandy thinks that sharing books with children is one of the greatest gifts anyone can give.

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The Great Sheep Shenanigans by P. Bently

The Deakin Review of Children s Literature ◽

10.20361/g2s02j ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 2 (4) ◽

Author(s):

Sandy Campbell

Keyword(s):

School Libraries ◽

Health Sciences ◽

Harry Potter ◽

Two Dimensional ◽

Intended Audience ◽

Small Children ◽

University Of Alberta ◽

Peter The Great ◽

The University

Bently, Peter. The Great Sheep Shenanigans. Illus. M. Matsuoka. London: Andersen Press, 2011. Print. In this tale, it is really the wolf, Lou Pine (hear the French loup and Lupin, the werewolf from Harry Potter), who gets up to shenanigans, rather than the sheep. The text is a clever and funny rhyme that tells the story of the wolf trying to catch a lamb to eat. Along the way, we hear sheep-related cultural and literary references from, “the wolf in sheep’s clothing,” to Red Riding Hood. “I’m just in the mood for a Gran-flavoured snack,” the wolf tells us. The wolf makes many attempts to catch a lamb, but is always thwarted, if not by his own silliness, then by the water-gun toting Ma Watson, by bees, by Red Riding Hood’s Granny, and finally, by Rambo the Ram, who butts him into “a big pile of poo!” While the intended audience is pre-school, the author sprinkles in some big words, such as “derrière”, “kersplat”, “skedaddling” and “vindaloo”, that children will enjoy and repeat, but adults will need to explain and pronounce on the first reading. The text is often printed over the illustrations, sometimes in extra-large font to emphasize a point. Sometimes it is part of the illustration. When “Lou found a thicket of blossoming trees,” the words from the phrase “Down came the blossom” float down the page with the blossoms. The illustrations are as much fun as the text. The sheep are most often depicted as balls of white with heads, ears and four small pegs for legs. Lou Pine is a two-dimensional creature, while Rambo the Ram blows steam out his nose and wears boxing gloves. The sheep occasionally have glasses, bow-ties or hair-bows. Because the rhyme is jaunty and the illustrations are fun and inventive, this will be a book that small children will want to have read to them over and over. Highly recommended for public and elementary school libraries. Recommendation: 4 stars out of 4Reviewer: Sandy CampbellSandy is a Health Sciences Librarian at the University of Alberta, who has written hundreds of book reviews across many disciplines. Sandy thinks that sharing books with children is one of the greatest gifts anyone can give.

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Northern Dancer: King of the Racetrack by G. Joyce

The Deakin Review of Children s Literature ◽

10.20361/g2xc7g ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 3 (2) ◽

Author(s):

Sandy Campbell

Keyword(s):

High School ◽

Junior High School ◽

Public Libraries ◽

School Libraries ◽

Health Sciences ◽

University Of Alberta ◽

The World ◽

The University ◽

Thoroughbred Racing

Joyce, Gare. Northern Dancer: King of the Racetrack. Markham, ON: Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2012. Print.It is not often that you find a biography of an animal, but in this case, the animal was a national icon. According to Gare Joyce, Northern Dancer, the great racehorse “made more money as an accomplished racehorse and sire than any Canadian athlete in history – even more than Wayne Gretzky ”. The book begins with a genealogical chart that shows that of the 19 horses starting in the 2011 Kentucky Derby, 18 were descended from Northern Dancer.This book chronicles Northern Dancer from his birth through to his wins and standing at stud until his death at age 29. Through his story, the reader also learns about the world of North American thoroughbred racing. We meet the great jockeys: Ron Turcotte, Willie Shoemaker and Bill Hardtack who all rode Northern Dancer to victories. We learn about the development of racehorses and the major races: The Preakness, The Belmont, The Kentucky Derby and the Queen’s Plate. Joyce writes informally and conversationally, as though he is telling one long story. For example, he tells us that Northern Dancer “became unruly around his stall…At least once he ripped the shirt off his trainer.” Later we are told that a trainer inadvertently let Northern Dancer run hard the day before a race and people thought that no thoroughbred could “run the equivalent of two races on two consecutive days. As it turned out, the only ones hurting after the Florida Derby were those who hadn’t bet on the heavily favoured Northern Dancer.” The text is accompanied by many photos of Northern Dancer, including archival images of horse and jockey in races, at the wire and in the winners’ circle. Overall, this is an enjoyable story of a remarkable horse. Northern Dancer: King of the Racetrack is highly recommended for junior high school libraries and public libraries everywhere. Highly recommended: 4 stars out of 4Reviewer: Sandy CampbellSandy is a Health Sciences Librarian at the University of Alberta, who has written hundreds of book reviews across many disciplines. Sandy thinks that sharing books with children is one of the greatest gifts anyone can give.

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The People of the Sea by D. Uluadluak

The Deakin Review of Children s Literature ◽

10.20361/g2s68w ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 7 (2) ◽

Author(s):

Sandy Campbell

Keyword(s):

Public Libraries ◽

School Libraries ◽

Reading Level ◽

Upper Elementary ◽

Elementary Children ◽

Intended Audience ◽

University Of Alberta ◽

The People ◽

The University

Uluadluak, Donald. The People of the Sea, illustrated by Mike Motz, Inhabit Media, 2017The People of the Sea is a recollection by the late Inuit elder, Donald Uluadluak, of seeing an arnajuinnaq or a sea person, while he and his friends played on the beach near Arviat. The story is a simple retelling of the adventure which highlights the presence of sea-people in Inuit culture. Unlike the vicious mermaids or tuutaliit of books such as Kiviuq and the Mermaids, who have frightening appearances and want to destroy kayaks and kill hunters, the sea-people in this story seem benign and simply curious. Mike Motz has drawn them as almost-expressionless creatures who look like fair-skinned women with long dark hair and facial tattoos – just as Uluadluak describes them. The two-page images are multi-coloured and do a good job of reflecting the sea and tundra environments. Text is overprinted on the images. The text is simple and comprehensible to the intended audience of 5 to 7 year-olds, but is above their reading level, so an adult would need to read this book aloud. The People of the Sea would also be appropriate for upper elementary children who are interested in traditional myths and legends. Highly recommended for school libraries and public libraries. Highly Recommended: 4 stars out of 4Reviewer: Sandy CampbellSandy is a Health Sciences Librarian at the University of Alberta, who has written hundreds of book reviews across many disciplines. Sandy thinks that sharing books with children is one of the greatest gifts anyone can give.

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Painted Skies by C. Mallory

The Deakin Review of Children s Literature ◽

10.20361/g2t61j ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 5 (4) ◽

Author(s):

Sandy Campbell

Keyword(s):

Picture Book ◽

School Libraries ◽

Reading Level ◽

The Arctic ◽

High Quality ◽

University Of Alberta ◽

Aurora Borealis ◽

Excellent Work ◽

The University

Mallory, Carolyn. Painted Skies. Iqaluit, NU: Inhabit Media, 2015. Print.The northern lights, or aurora borealis, are ethereal and difficult to reproduce in an image, however, illustrator Amei Zhao does an admirable job. Carolyn Mallory’s story, told through the voices of two girls, Leslie and Oolipika, is a simple one encompassing the tradition that the northern lights are spirits playing a soccer-like game and that if they come too close, you might be hit by the ball. To let the spirits know you are there, you click your fingernails together. The Arctic environment is present throughout. When Leslie jumps she is “all arms and legs like a young caribou”. When the girls make snow angels they move their arms and legs “as if they were ptarmigans trying to get off the ground”. The reading level is appropriate for a picture book. While the story is well-written, it is the artwork on which the story is printed that is the best part of this volume. All of the pages are night pictures, so the images are shadowed, with highlights of moonlight. The deep blues, blacks, purples and greens contrast with the pinks and lime greens of the northern lights. Zhao has also added whispy green figures of the auroral spirits running through the sky. While this is a simple book, it is another example of Inhabit Media’s excellent work in capturing Arctic stories and creating high quality publications with them. This book is highly recommended for elementary school libraries and public libraries.Highly recommended: 4 stars out of 4Reviewer: Sandy CampbelSandy is a Health Sciences Librarian at the University of Alberta, who has written hundreds of book reviews across many disciplines. Sandy thinks that sharing books with children is one of the greatest gifts anyone can give.

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50 Below Zero by R. Munsch

The Deakin Review of Children s Literature ◽

10.20361/g25c81 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 4 (3) ◽

Author(s):

Sandy Campbell

Keyword(s):

Public Libraries ◽

School Libraries ◽

Yukon Territory ◽

Cold Climate ◽

Intended Audience ◽

Warm Up ◽

University Of Alberta ◽

Book Format ◽

The University

Munsch, Robert. 50 Below Zero. Illus. Michael Martchenko. Richmond Hill, ON: Annick Press, 2013. Print.Originally published in a larger format in 1986, 50 Below Zero has been republished as a board book. The story is a northern and cold climate one, created while Munsch was making a book tour stop in Watson Lake in the Yukon Territory. However, while the setting is cold, the story is really about sleepwalking.The text of the board book is much abbreviated from the original. Much of the repetition, for example Jason’s “What’s that? What’s that? What’s that?” and the father’s running three times around something whenever he is wakened have been removed, as well as a segment where Jason finds his father in the bathtub. However, the story still contains enough repetition to amuse the intended audience of 2 to 5 year-olds. Like many of Munsch’s books, the story presents a child who takes control of a problem and solves it. Jason repeatedly gets up to find his father in a new location to which he has sleep walked. Most importantly, he locates him out in the forest when it is “50 Below Zero”, asleep against a tree. Had Jason not found him and brought him back to warm up in the bathtub, he surely would have died. So Jason saves the day and even figures out how to keep his father out of danger while sleepwalking.Most of Michael Martchenko’s illustrations are in an icy blue, reflecting the cold winter landscape. All of the images are fun and will elicit a smile from both child and adult readers.This book has stood the test of time and does well in the board book format. It would be a good addition to school libraries, public libraries and libraries with polar children’s collections.Highly Recommended: 4 stars out of 4Reviewer: Sandy CampbellSandy is a Health Sciences Librarian at the University of Alberta, who has written hundreds of book reviews across many disciplines. Sandy thinks that sharing books with children is one of the greatest gifts anyone can give.

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Sometimes I Feel Angry / Sometimes I Feel Nervous / Sometimes I Feel Jealous / Sometimes I Feel Lonely / Sometimes I Feel Sad Illus. A. Sandland.

The Deakin Review of Children s Literature ◽

10.20361/dr29396 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 8 (2) ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Sandy Campbell

Keyword(s):

Public Libraries ◽

Literacy Learning ◽

School Libraries ◽

Read Aloud ◽

The Arctic ◽

Small Children ◽

University Of Alberta ◽

The North ◽

The University

Sometimes I Feel Angry / Sometimes I Feel Nervous / Sometimes I Feel Jealous / Sometimes I Feel Lonely / Sometimes I Feel Sad. Illus. Amanda Sandland. Iqaluit: Inhabit Education, 2017. The Nunavummi Reading Series from Inhabit Education situates emotional literacy learning in the Canadian Arctic. These books are part of a leveled reading series and are graded at Fountas & Pinnell Text Level J (books designed to be read aloud to young children). Amanda Sandland’s illustrations are spare and uncluttered. Backgrounds are plain or contain simple landscapes. The characters developed by Ali Hinch are anthropomorphized animals representing small children. The nervous caribou has a hat and satchel and Aqi, the sometimes sad and lonely bird, has boots. Some of the characters appear in several books. One of the most helpful things about these books is that the resolutions are realistic. The characters display real emotions and reactions. These situations are resolved through talking with friends and recognizing which responses are healthy and which are not. There are none of the trite “quick-fixes” that so often appear in children’s books related to emotions. There are many children’s series that address emotions, but because these books are set in the Arctic and use Arctic animals, children in the North will be more comfortable with the content. The characters do things that Northern children would do: playing one-foot high kick, looking for fossils, picking berries, ice-fishing and going sliding. Children who do not live in Northern environments will be able to learn more about the North, as well as about emotions. This is a high-quality, relatively inexpensive series that is highly recommended for elementary school libraries and public libraries. Highly recommended: 4 out of 4 stars Reviewer: Sandy Campbell Sandy is a Health Sciences Librarian at the University of Alberta, who has written hundreds of book reviews across many disciplines. Sandy thinks that sharing books with children is one of the greatest gifts anyone can give.

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Tales from the Tundra: A Collection of Inuit Stories by I. Kaslik

The Deakin Review of Children s Literature ◽

10.20361/g2pp48 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 1 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Sandy Campbell

Keyword(s):

Publishing House ◽

School Libraries ◽

Health Sciences ◽

Publishing Company ◽

Two Dimensional ◽

University Of Alberta ◽

Traditional Technique ◽

Internal Dialogue ◽

The University

Kaslik, Ibi. Tales from the Tundra: A Collection of Inuit Stories. Illus. Anthony Brennan. Iqaluit: Inhabit Media, 2010. Print. Inhabit Media is an Inuit-owned, independent publishing company that “aims to promote and preserve the stories, knowledge, and talent of northern Canada.” This collection of five traditional Inuit stories from different regions in Nunavut is one of their most recent offerings. Three of the stories tell of how specific animals came into being. One tells how the raven and loon came to look the way they do and the fifth, The Owl and the Siksik, is a typical story of outwitting the enemy. Anthony Brennan’s illustrations have a two-dimensional fantasy quality to them that is more reminiscent of cartoons or Japanese anime than of traditional Inuit art. Many of the creatures are outlined in black and then filled with solid colour. While the backgrounds are usually ice-blue, and there are pastel colours in the images, many of the main parts of the drawings are black, giving the book an overall ominous look. While these stories are described in the forward as “contemporary retellings”, Kaslik’s voice is similar to that of an elder telling stories and her style is traditional. The language is simple and direct, occasionally incorporating Inuit words. Animals are anthropomorphized. They do the same sorts of things that humans do and have human emotions and foibles. For example, in “The Raven and The Loon”, the two birds sew clothes for each other. When Raven thinks that Loon is sewing too slowly, she reacts impatiently: “Please, sew faster!” impatient Raven pleaded.” Kaslik also uses internal dialogue, another traditional technique, to allow the reader to listen to the characters reasoning out their actions. For example, “Siksiks often go in and out of their dens,” thought the owl, believing himself to be very clever. “Today I will find a siksik den and wait there until I see one.” There are few children’s books of Inuit mythology available, and fewer that have the authenticity of being published by an Inuit publishing house. Overall, this volume is a small, but welcome addition to the field, through which many children will be able to learn about the mythology of the Inuit. For public and school libraries everywhere. Highly recommended: 4 out of 4 stars Reviewer: Sandy Campbell Sandy is a Health Sciences Librarian at the University of Alberta, who has written hundreds of book reviews across many disciplines. Sandy thinks that sharing books with children is one of the greatest gifts anyone can give.

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On the Shoulder of a Giant: an Inuit Folktale by N. Christopher

The Deakin Review of Children s Literature ◽

10.20361/g2kk62 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 5 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Sandy Campbell

Keyword(s):

Public Libraries ◽

Picture Book ◽

Bowhead Whale ◽

The Arctic ◽

Quality Work ◽

University Of Alberta ◽

The Difference ◽

The University ◽

The Impact

Christopher, Neil. On the Shoulder of a Giant: an Inuit Folktale. Iqualuit: Inhabit Media, 2015. Print.This is another in a series of works designed by Neil Christopher, one of the founders of Inhabit Media, to preserve traditional Inuit stories. In this book he retells a story, which is known in various forms all across the Arctic, of a giant who adopts a hunter as his son. This giant, named Inukpak, is one of the inukpasugjuit or “great giants” of Inuit stories. Inukpak is so big that he can walk across the Arctic in “just a few days” and when he stands in the sea the water "never come[s] up past his knees". He is so big that he thinks that the hunter is a lost child, so he adopts him and carries him on his shoulder.This is a simple retelling, designed to teach about the mythical giants and to explain why the story is found in many cultures across the Canadian Arctic. However, it also models a big person/small person relationship in which small people do not correct or talk back to big people. Children will relate to the hunter, who is treated as a child and because the story is told from the hunter's perspective. The giant sometimes doesn't recognize the impact of his own actions. For example when he runs back to shore, he creates waves that swamp the hunter, but the giant thinks the hunter has been playing in the water. "The hunter wanted to tell the giant that he had not been playing in the water. He also wanted to explain to Inukpak that he had caught a bowhead whale, not a sculpin. But, once again, the little hunter did not want to argue with a giant, so he just said, 'Okay.' "This is mainly a picture book. The illustrations run over two-page spreads with text over-printed on them. Jim Nelson does a good job of presenting the difference in size between the giant and the human. Inukpak is presented as a happy fellow, with black shaggy hair and a full beard. Children will be amused by the giant picking up a polar bear by the scruff of its neck, like a kitten. The images are realistic and the backgrounds are lovely representations of Arctic landscapes. Overall, this is an enjoyable and high-quality work that should be included in elementary school libraries, public libraries and libraries specializing in Arctic children’s books.Highly Recommended: 4 out of 4 starsReviewer: Sandy CampbellSandy is a Health Sciences Librarian at the University of Alberta, who has written hundreds of book reviews across many disciplines. Sandy thinks that sharing books with children is one of the greatest gifts anyone can give.

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