Selected Books and Nunavut Teaching Resources


Picture Books/Fiction    |   Non-Fiction

Sources for borrowing or for purchase


   

Very Last First Time.

Andrews, Jan.
Illustrated by Ian Wallace. Toronto: Groundwood Books/Douglas & McIntyre, 1985. 32 p.
ISBN 0-88899-043-X.

Inuit girl from village on Ungava Bay is allowed to gather mussels by herself on the ocean floor at low tide, under the thick ice. 

 

 

Mama, Do You Love Me?

Joosse, Barbara M.
San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1991. 26 p.
ISBN 0-87701-759-X.

Imaginative "how much do you love me", "I love you this much" game between young daughter and mother Inuit from northern Alaska.  Illustrations depict traditional life.
 

 

Arctic Stories.

Kusuguk, Michael Arvaaluk.
Illustrated by Vladyanna Langer Krykorka. Toronto: Annick Press, 1998. 40 p.
ISBN 1-55037-452-4

Three semi-autobiographical stories about growing up in Repulse Bay by Inuit storyteller and children's book author.

 

 

Hide and Sneak.

Kusugak, Michael Arvaaluk.
Illustrated by Vladyanna Krykorka. Toronto: Annick Press, 1992. [32p].
ISBN 1-55037-229-7.

Girl plays farther and farther away but finds her way back by an Inukshuk, the standing stones.

 

 

Northern Lights: The Soccer Trails.

Kusuguk, Michael Arvaaluk.
Toronto, Annick Press, 1993. 32 p.
ISBN 1-55037-339-0.

Based on an Inuit tale about the mystical aspects of the northern lights--the souls of the dead play soccer using a walrus head as the ball--the author tells about the death of a young girl's mother, grieving, and rejoicing when watching the northern lights.

 

 

My Arctic 1, 2, 3.

Kusuguk, Michael Arvaaluk.
Illustrated by Vladyanna Krykorka. Toronto: Annick Press, 1996. 24 p.
ISBN 1-55037-505-9

Enumerating arctic animals, with Inutitut words below.  "One polar bear...Two ringed seals...Six siksiks..."

 

 

Baseball Bats for Christmas.

Kusuguk, Michael Arvaaluk.
Illustrated by Vladyanna Krykorka. Toronto: Annick Press, 1990. 24 p.
ISBN 1-55037-145-2.

The December delivery plane to Repulse Bay brought several Christmas trees to an area which has no trees of any kind.  Inuit boys turned them into baseball bats.

 

 

A Promise is a Promise.

Munsch, Robert and Michael Kusugak.
Illustrated by Vladyana Kroyorka. Toronto: Annick Press, 1988.  ISBN 1-55037-009-X .

Inuit girl tests her mother's warning against  the Qallupilluq and tangles with imaginary Inuit creatures.
 

   

Ytek and the Arctic Orchid: an Inuit Legend

Hewitt, Garnet.
Illustrated by Heather Woodall. Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 1981. 38p. ISBN 0-88894-238-9.

 

 

Amorak

Jessell, Tim
Minnesota: Creative Editions, 1994. 30p. ISBN 1-568460929.

In this retelling of an Inuit creation myth, Grandfather explains why the caribou and the wolf are brothers.
 

   

Dreamstones

Trottier, Maxine.
Illustrated by Stella East. Toronto, Stoddart Kids, 1999. 22 pp. ISBN 0-7737-3191-1.

David comes to the land of the Inuit on his father's ship. As his father draws the flora and fauna, David collects stones and bones. When the ship becomes iced in, the voyagers must stay the winter.  One night, David looks out the porthole and sees foxes running in the snow. He follows them and gets lost. He is aided by a man dressed in fur, who spends the night telling him about the secret dreams of animals.
 

 

Caribou Girl

Murphy, Claire Rudoff.
Illustrated by Linda Russell. Boulder, Colorado: Roberts Rinehart Publishers, 1998. 32p. ISBN 1-57098-145-0.

Inuit girl dreams of the caribou, and is given an amulet to find them. She travels into the sky and she is turned into a caribou so that she will learn the ways of the herd. By learning their cycles, she comes to understand how her people must behave in the future in order to survive.
 

   

Tiktala

Shaw-MacKinnon, Margaret Alison.
Illustrated by Laszalo Gal. Toronto: Stoddart, 1996. 32 p. ISBN 0-7737-2920-8.

After expressing her wish to become a great soapstone carver, Tiktala, a young Inuit girl, is sent to find her spirit helper. Transformed into a harp seal, Tiktala gains the understanding and wisdom she needs to return to her people and begin practicing her carving.

 

 

The Shaman's Nephew: A Life in the Far North

Simon Tookoome and Sheldon Oberman.
 Toronto: Stoddart Kids, 1999. 55p. ISBN 0-7737-3200-4.

An Intuit artist, one of the last of his people to live nomadically and hunt the land, tells the story of his life - which is also the vanished life of the Intuit - in his pictures and in the text.  Upfront about his stance as an outsider, co-author Oberman uses his western eyes as a bridge between reader and the Intuit culture, without condescending or sentimentalizing the culture.
 

   
   
   
   
   
   
 

Non-Fiction


 

The Inuit

Lassieur, Allison.
Mankato: Bridgestone Books, 2000. 24p. ISBN 0736804986.

One aspect of life, such as history, housing, government, and daily life, is covered on each double-page spread. Clear and colorful full-page photos show contemporary clothing, houses, tribal industry, and ceremonies. Easily understood text, numerous photos, and contemporary as well as historical coverage make this an excellent series to introduce young readers to Inuit. A tribe-specific, hands-on activity; a glossary; a reading list; and addresses and Internet sites round out this book. Karen Hutt

 

The Inuksuk Book

Wallace, Mary.
Toronto: Owl Books, 1999. 64 p. ISBN 1-895688-90-6.

For hundreds of years the Inuit have built stone structures called inuksuit. The various structures have been used to point the way for travelers, show where food is stored, and even warn of dangerous places. The author describes the daily routines of the Inuit as she demonstrates the importance of the inuksuit, historically and in contemporary times.
 

 

Make Your Own Inuksuk

Wallace, Mary
Toronto: Owl Books, 2001.  ISBN: 1894379101

Today, Inuit often build Inuksuit in the shape of human figures. The author provides step-by-step instructions on how to create a nine-stone inuksuk, where to place it, and the types of expression one can give it. Helpful information is also provided on where to find stones.

 

Nunavut

Hancock, Lynn
Hello Canada Series. Markham, ON: Fitzhenry&Whiteside, 1995.
 ISBN: 0822527588

Factual and photo-rich introduction to the people, culture, geography, history, and economy of Nunavut.  Middle school level reference.
 

 

Nunavut Handbook: Traveling in Canada's Arctic

Soubliee, Marion  and Martin Marion  (Editors), and John Amagoalik (Introduction)
1998, 1999  ISBN: 1550365878

The 1999 Nunavut Handbook authored largely by Nunavut writers is the world's most comprehensive travel guidebook to the Canadian Arctic.  In additional to vital travel information, the Handbook includes extensive cultural and historical accounts of the Inuit inhabitants, their extraordinary land claim, and politics, with an explanation of the structure of Canada's newest territorial government. 

See this handbook on-line at: http://www.arctictravel.com/

 

 

Arctic Community

Kalman, Bobbie and Belsey, William.
Toronto: Crabtree Publishing Company, 1988.  ISBN: 0865051577

Photograph-rich elementary and middle school level reference book, covering current life in Rankin Inlet.  At time book was written, Rankin Inlet was part of Northwest Territories, and book reflects this.  It now is part of Nunavut.

 

 

Frozen Land

Reynolds, Jan
Harcourt Children's Books, 1993.   ISBN: 0152387870

A vivid photographic journey to the far north of Canada profiles the Inuit people who live in the Arctic, capturing their traditional and rapidly disappearing way of life.

 

 

The Kids Book of the Far North..

Love, Ann & Jane Drake.
Illustrated by Jocelyne Bouchard. Toronto: Kids Can Press, 2000.
ISBN 1-55074-563-8.

Well-illustrated elementary and middle school level reference, covering Arctic environment, plant and animal life, ancient peoples, Arctic riches, and everyday life of people from the eight countries above the Arctic circle.

 

 

Houses of Snow, Skin and Bones: Native Dwellings: the Far North.

Shemie, Bonnie.
Tundra Books, 1989. 24 p. ISBN 0-88776-240-9.

Elementary and middle school level illustrated reference of Arctic native dwellings.

 

   
   
   
   
   
   
   

 

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