Summer reads from Inhabit Media

Nunavut’s first and only publishing house continues to produce colourful and modern versions of Inuit storytelling, packaged with its trademark whimsical illustrations.

Have a look at some of Inhabit’s latest offerings targeted for young readers between four and eight years of age.

Children’s stories have often told the larger-then-life tales of giants, like Goliath and Paul Bunyan.

But what about the inukpasugjuk, or great giants, who roam the High Arctic?

In the new children’s book, On the Shoulder of a Giant, Inhabit Media’s Neil Christopher re-tells the story of Inukpak, a hulking giant who can walk from one end of the Arctic to the other in a few days.

Once he reaches the coast, Inukpak wades knee-deep into the sea to catch a bowhead whale, which he mistakes for a sculpin.

During his travels, Inukpak meets an Inuk hunter, who he mistakenly believes is an orphaned child.

While the hunter is first unsure of Inukpak, the two grow to become friends and fellow hunters.

On the Shoulders of a Giant
Re-told by Neil Christopher and illustrated by Jim Nelson
$16.95
Hardcover

Hurry Up, Ilua! is a great story for children as young as three.

Ilua is a young siksik enjoying the bountiful autumn tundra with her family as they prepare for the approaching winter months and the “Long Sleep.”

When her mother asks her to watch her little sister Ivavaa so she can prepare their den for hibernation, Ilua happily agrees to take her sister to the sea shore.

But when winter snows come fast and furious, little Ilua must find a way to get home to the family’s warm den.

Hurry Up, Ilua! was written and colourfully-illustrated by Chesterfield Inlet teacher and writer, Nola Hicks.

Hurry Up, Ilua!
Story and illustrations by Nola Hicks
$10.95
Paperback

In the tale of The Walrus Who Escaped, Walrus, with his beautiful spiralled tusks, is happily diving for clams along the Arctic shore.

But that enrages Raven, who can’t get to the sea bed to harvest the tastiest clams.

Jealousy pushes Raven to cast a spell on Walrus, freezing the clam-hunter in the sea ice, where his large body is trapped.

Walrus uses his physical strength to free himself from the ice, driving Raven away, but forever changing the form of a walrus.

The Walrus Who Escaped
Written by Rachel and Sean Qitsualik-Tinsley and illustrated by Anthony Brennan
$16.95
Hardcover

The Spirit of the Sea is one writer’s take on the traditional legend of Sedna, Nuliajuq or Takannaaluk, the goddess of the sea.

In this version, Rachel Hainnu of Clyde River tells the story of Arnaq, a young woman who refuses to marry.

When she is deceived by a bird and later, her own father, Arnaq finds herself sinking to the bottom of the sea.

But she is rescued by the sea life around her and stays to call the ocean home, commanding the ocean and its sea life forever more.

The Spirit of the Sea
Written by Rebecca Hainnu and illustrated by Hwei Lim
$16.95
Hardcover

In Lesson for the Wolf, a lone wolf distances himself from his pack and takes solace in the beauty of the land and its animals.

The wolf wishes so much to become what he is not that he grows to take the form of other animals on the tundra: the caribou, the wolverine and the owl.

But he finds himself unable to survive on the land in his new form, and returns to his family to discover who he really is.

Lesson for the Wolf
Written by Rachel and Sean Qitsualik-Tinsley and illustrated by Alan Cook
$16.95
Hardcover

Inhabit Media publishes English, Inuktitut and French-language editions of its books.

You can order books directly from the publishing company and most online booksellers. Copies are also sold at Arctic Ventures in Iqaluit and in gift shops in other communities.