Mother, daughter art team capture contemporary Cape Dorset

TINA ROSE

A Grade 8 class at Inuksuk High School began their writing careers with a book launch on June 15 to celebrate their literary endeavour, A-Counts: Unleashing an Array of Accomplished Adolescent Authors.

Teacher Gabrielle Stanton approached her class with the idea in May. She says her students were excited but skeptical until they began to work on the project.

The 19 authors who contributed to the book were free to write stories on whatever topics they chose, so long as they met the 300 word minimum requirement. Four students chose to also submit a piece of poetry, so A-Counts contains 23 pieces of student writing.

This is a project Stanton has wanted to undertake for a while. She says it was an opportunity to “celebrate writing” and that her students deserve praise for the work they put into the project.

Joe Kanayuk, 15, wrote a story called “Hockey Night in Iqaluit” about a hockey competition between Iqaluit and Rankin Inlet. He enjoyed the opportunity to write his own story.

“Feels like you’ve done something,” he said.

Fifteen-year-old Sheba Munick-Denault called the experience “awesome.”

“I loved it,” she said. Her story, “Miranda and Sarah” is about a friendship between two women who greatly differ in age.

At the end of the anthology comes a sad and moving tale. Virgil Williams wrote a detailed account of a deadly skidoo accident in his story, called “My Big Brother Ben.”

A-Counts is being sold for $10 each, with profits being split between the Nunavut Literacy Council and the purchase of new books for the Inuksuk High School Library. In lieu of royalties, each contributor received a gift certificate from Arctic Ventures.

Dan Paige, treasurer of the Nunavut Literacy Council, was at the book launch to thank the class. He stressed the importance of literacy in Nunavut and the value of acquiring literacy skills early in life and applying them every day.