New children’s book explores experiences of beloved pet rock

Ashley Qilavaq-Savard’s first dream in Inuktitut brought her a gift.

The writer, artist, poet and filmmaker had started dreaming in the language in 2021 after picking up Inuktitut studies as an adult. When she was a child growing up in Iqaluit, Qilavaq-Savard said, learning Inuktitut was discouraged.

“I had a dream that I was surrounded by Inuit women artists, and they threw the torch to me and said, ‘OK, show us what you have.’”

I Am A Rock is a children’s book by Iqaluit author Ashley Qilavaq-Savard which tells the story of a child’s beloved pet rock and all the wonders of Arctic it witnesses. (Photo courtesy of Inhabit Books)

All she could come up with in Inuktitut was, “I am a rock. I do not run. I do not fly. I do not walk.”

These words became the early lines of I Am A Rock, a children’s book set to be  published by Inhabit Media next month.

I Am A Rock follows a young Inuk boy and his mother as she weaves a bedtime story about the boy’s beloved pet rock. The boy asks his mother if his pet rock experiences anything in the world.

“His mother tells him, ‘Yes, the rock can hear the lemmings walk across the tundra, it can hear the hooves of the caribou,’ it can hear everything,” said Qilavaq-Savard in an interview.

“It can see things and it can feel things.”

The book’s characters are modelled after Qilavaq-Savard’s uncle and grandmother.

She described her project as a “sweet little book.” It’s filled with bright, pastel-coloured collages of snow white seals, caribou, snow geese, turbot and ptarmigan flowing across the pages.

Qilavaq-Savard said writing leads to exploring different narratives and inspires her to get curious about the world. She said she hopes that curiosity inspires the same in the children who read I Am A Rock, reminding them that the world — the Arctic — is beautiful.

“[It’s important] to get children curious about nature,” she said, “To get them questioning things in nature, the natural cycles that we experience, the harvesting season.”

Aside from this book, Qilavaq-Savard said she is keeping busy. She’s working on a science fiction novel and is in the process of writing two feature films and two miniseries.

I Am A Rock is set for publication on April 9. There is a book launch event scheduled for April 13  at the Nunatta Sunakkutaangit Museum.

Qilavaq-Savard’s first foray into publishing was a book of poetry, called Where the Sea Kuniks the Land, released in 2022.