scholarly journals Dream Away by J. Durango and K. Belle Trupiano

2013 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandy Campbell
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Milky Way ◽  
Public Libraries ◽  
Picture Book ◽  
The Moon ◽  
University Of Alberta ◽  
Young Readers ◽  
Iambic Pentameter ◽  
The University

Durango, Julia, and Katie Belle Trupiano.  Dream Away.  New York:  Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2011.  Print. This is a delightful picture book with a gentle rhyme designed to lull children to sleep.  Reminiscent of “Moonbeam on a Cat’s Ear”, the father and child dream of sailing through the cosmos in an “old paper boat”.  They have a magical crew of a knight, a winged horse, two winged cats (pixies) and a dog.  As they wander through the heavens they are chased by the animals of the constellations.  Eventually, even the clouds and the moon fall asleep.  The rhymes are predictable - moon/balloon, seas/breeze, float/boat – the iambic pentameter rhythm is strong and regular, so pre-readers will quickly memorize the story and want to “read” along. While the colours in the illustrations are strong, all of the figures are soft-edged and rounded, giving everything a cuddly appearance.  The images often add content to the story.  For example, when the text reads, “We played with a bear, an archer, a hare.  A dragon gave chase, but the crew won the race”, the images show us a constellation bear throwing a ball of light and the boy on the edge of the boat, ready to swing at it with his baseball bat.  As they “glide down a glimmering slide”, we see the boy holding on to the winged horse’s tail, while the horse tows the boat down the Milky Way.  The moon is a balloon tied to the back of the boat.  In the final pages of the book, we see that most of the things in the story, the planets, cats, dog, winged horse and baseball bat are all objects in the boy’s room and he is wearing a paper hat shaped like the boat. This is a lovely, peaceful lullaby that is highly recommended for public libraries and small children’s 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.

At the Heart of It: Dene dzó t’áré by R. Taniton & M. Willett

2012 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandy Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Public Libraries ◽  
Picture Book ◽  
Health Sciences ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
Book Series ◽  
University Of Alberta ◽  
Bear Lake ◽  
The People ◽  
The University

Taniton, Raymond and Mindy Willett.  At the Heart of It: Dene dzó t’áré.  Markham, On:  Fifth   House, 2011.  Print. Indigenous author Raymond Taniton is a member of The Sahtugot’ine, or the “people of Great Bear Lake”.  In At the Heart of It, Taniton invites readers into his world.  We meet his family, see the Sahtu Region where he lives, meet the elders in the community, learn how to make a traditional hand drum, learn some games and read some of the stories.  The stories are particularly important. This book is the most recent in Fifth House’s “The Land is Our Story Book” series, all co-authored by writer Mindy Willett. Taniton concludes this volume by saying, “The land is our storybook. It is our school, our library, our church. It is where we learn our stories and where we discover who we are as true Dene people. The land is at the heart of it all”.  And in this book Taniton and Willett do succeed in helping us to understand “the land”. This is a picture book, an educational book and a celebration of what it means to be Satugot’ine. Tessa Macintosh’s photographs are used throughout. The top of each page has a border image of the beaded toes of twenty-one moccasins. Often a large image will form the background of a page with text and other images superimposed.  For example, for the story “The Lake is the Boss”, the background is an image which looks out through the mouth of a cave.  The story is about a giant wolf that lived in the cave. The text, along with smaller images of the island that the wolf became when he turned to stone, is superimposed on the cave photograph.  The images and text, taken together, form many lessons for young people.  The stories provide metaphorical and philosophical lessons, but the book also provides practical lessons, such as the illustrated steps to making a drum.  As a whole, the book celebrates Raymond Taniton’s family, the Sahtugot’ine people and their way of life.   Highly recommended for elementary school and public libraries. 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.

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

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. 

scholarly journals Down by the River: A Family Fly Fishing Story by A. Weiner

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandy Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Public Libraries ◽  
Health Sciences ◽  
Reading Level ◽  
Fishing Trip ◽  
University Of Alberta ◽  
Fly Fishing ◽  
Young Readers ◽  
The University ◽  
Riverine Landscapes

Weiner, Andrew.  Down by the River: A Family Fly Fishing Story. Harry N. Abrams, 2018.  This is a beautifully illustrated book that tells a simple story about a boy, Art, who goes on a fly-fishing trip with his mother and grandfather. The story recalls a time when Art’s grandfather taught his mother to fish.  April Chu has used a subdued palette for her two-page riverine landscapes, with lots of green and rich autumn colours in the environment. The book has a calm and peaceful feel about it that mirrors the contemplative nature of fly-fishing.  The text is simple and descriptive of a day spent on the river. The reading level is too difficult for the intended Kindergarten to Grade 2 audience, so an adult will need to read the book aloud, especially those sentences that could confuse young readers with difficult concepts or complicated jargon: “The line arced forward and the fly landed softly a few feet above the rock. It drifted with the current past the rock. There was a splash and the line went tight.”  The last three pages contain information about fly fishing, the clothing worn by fly fishers and where to get more information about the sport. The end pages are decorated with images of intricate flys with such fun and mysterious names as: “Ian’s Crunch Caddis,” “Black Fur Ant,” and “Purple Parachute Adams.” This book is a good introduction to fly fishing for younger children that also tells a charming story. Highly recommended for school and public libraries. Highly Recommended: 4 stars out of 4 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. 

scholarly journals Saila & Betty by C. Rooney

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandy Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Public Libraries ◽  
Picture Book ◽  
Learning Tools ◽  
University Of Alberta ◽  
Reading Materials ◽  
Reading Text ◽  
Level I ◽  
Upper Level ◽  
The University

Rooney, Christina. Saila & Betty, illustrated by Ali Hinch. Inhabit Education, 2016.Inhabit Education has launched a series of text levelled readers, called the Nunavummi Reading Series.  Saila and Betty has been levelled using the Fountas & Pinnell Text Level Gradient Level: I, which makes it appropriate for upper level Grade 1.   It is a picture book with two to three sentences per page including simple dialog.  The sentences get progressively more difficult through the book.  Ali Hinch’s comic-like artwork is black-line with bright colours for infill.  The animals all show animation and emotions.   While this is primarily a reading text, it contains a wellness message, as well.  The story is a simple one about birds, who fly very well and seals, who swim very well discovering that while their strengths are different, and they are not very good at each other’s strengths at all, they can still be friends and have fun together. It is great to see curriculum materials being developed with Arctic themes.  These will be very valuable learning tools in Arctic classrooms and as supplementary reading materials in southern classrooms.  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.

scholarly journals Not Your Typical Dragon by D. Bar-el

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Leslie Aitken
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Primary School ◽  
Picture Book ◽  
University Of Alberta ◽  
Young Readers ◽  
Normal Reading ◽  
Colour Palette ◽  
The University ◽  
Reading Distance ◽  
Selection Of

Bar-el, Dan.  Not Your Typical Dragon. Illus. Tim Bowers. New York: Viking-Penguin Young Readers Group, 2013. Without didacticism, this picture book explores the plight of those who are not “typical;” along the way, it highlights the value of peacemaking.  Crispin Blaze, the child of a long, proud line of dragons who breathe fire, breathes everything but.  Band-Aids, bubbles and teddy bears are amongst his pacifying emissions.  Finding acceptance in a world of knights and dragons becomes his challenge.Not intended as “beginning-to-read” material, the text is still admirably written for oral presentation by either a proficient reader or a storyteller.  Phrasing and structure promote the build up of suspense.  Sentences are generally short and crisp, allowing, as appropriate, for the dramatic pause.  The vocabulary is well chosen, varied, and unpretentious.  The storyline should prove both amusing and satisfying to kindergarten and primary school children.Tim Bower’s illustrations add to the humour of the tale.  They are large and clearly delineated—a good accompaniment to the text when seen at normal reading distance. Bower’s colour palette, however, is sometimes delicate.  Viewed from the distance at which a story hour audience might see them, some images seem to meld.  Others are perfectly fine for group viewing: good choices would be Crispin’s exhalations of both birthday streamers and teddy bears.All in all, this book provokes spontaneous laughter and subtle reflection.  Parents, teachers and librarians will find many occasions on which to present it.Highly recommended: 4 stars out of 4Reviewer: Leslie AitkenLeslie Aitken’s long career in librarianship involved selection of children’s literature for school, public, special, and university collections.  She is a former Curriculum Librarian at the University of Alberta.

scholarly journals Akilak’s Adventure by D. Kigjugalik Webster

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandy Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Public Libraries ◽  
Picture Book ◽  
Extended Family ◽  
Reading Level ◽  
Upper Elementary ◽  
University Of Alberta ◽  
Children's Book ◽  
The University ◽  
The Relationship

Kigjugalik Webster, Deborah.  Akilak’s Adventure.  Inhabit Media, 2016.This is a first children’s book from Deborah Kigjugalik Webster, who grew up in Baker Lake, Nunavut.  It is a story of a little Inuit girl navigating the tundra by herself to reach her uncle’s camp.  As the child walks, she is joined by a caribou, who mysteriously knows her grandmother’s saying, “Your destination did not run away, you will reach it soon.”  The conversation between the two is about people changing into animals, but Akilak in the end decides to remain a person.   The story is deceptively simple.  On the surface, children will understand it as a little girl’s adventure.  However, it encompasses several important aspects of Inuit culture:  the relationship between grandparent and child, the importance of extended family support, the prominence of animals and the stories of people taking the shape of animals, the distance of travel across the tundra and the related concept of taulittuq or the sense of moving but not getting closer to your destination.Charlene Chua’s artwork is charming. Each two pages are an image with text overprinted on one page, often shaped to fit around parts of the image.  The images are simple and cartoon-like, but good representations of the tundra and its creatures.  While this is mainly a picture book with an intended audience of children ages 5 to 7, the reading level is upper elementary, so younger children will definitely need an adult to read it to them.Akilak’s Adventure would be an excellent addition to public libraries and elementary school 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. 

scholarly journals A Walk on the Tundra by R. Hainnu & A. Ziegler

2012 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandy Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Public Libraries ◽  
Picture Book ◽  
Upper Elementary ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Accurate Identification ◽  
Field Guide ◽  
University Of Alberta ◽  
Plant Names ◽  
The University

Hainnu, Rebecca and Anna Ziegler.  A Walk on the Tundra. Iqaluit:  Inhabit Media, 2011.  Print. This volume is a cross between a picture book, a story and a field guide to edible plants.  Inuujaq is a little girl who wants to play with her friends, but they are still asleep.  Her grandmother, Silaaq, takes her out on the land to collect plants.  While Inuujaq is more concerned about her friends and snacks, her grandmother patiently passes on the traditional knowledge that her grandmother had taught her.  As Silaaq teaches the reader learns about the plants as well.  For example, when they pick qijuktaat, we are told that “Its long green fingers and white bell blossoms flutter in the wind.  Inuujaq touches the little branches.  They feel prickly on her palms.  And they smell fresh, like the summer wind when it comes from the hills.” Authors, Rebecca Hainnu and Anna Ziegler, have worked on several educational publications. That background is apparent in this book.  There are eighteen Inuktitut words, including 6 plant names, introduced in the text.  They are explained and italicized when they are first introduced, for example “Nirilikkit – eat them”. The next time the word is used, it is assumed that the reader knows what it means. Because there are several Inuktitut words on each page, I was not able to remember them as I read and had to use the glossary or look back to the first use of the word, which is distracting.  However, as a tool for building vocabulary, or as a story book for students who have some familiarity with Inuktitut, this work would be excellent. The pictures that accompany the story are cartoon-like with lots of bright colours.  Artist, Qin Leng, has given the land a lot of colour.  The ground is covered with green grass and bright flowers, reflecting the Arctic summer.  Silaaq and Inuujaq wear pinks and purples and blues with green boots and pink shoes.  The plant glossary, or field guide, is illustrated with photographs for accurate identification. There are very few children’s books about Inuit plant use.  The content is valuable, but because of the incorporation of Inuktitut words, it is more challenging to read.   A Walk on the Tundra will find most of its readers at the upper elementary level rather than the age 6 to 8 group which is its defined audience.  Recommended for elementary school and public libraries. Recommended: 3 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.

scholarly journals The Orphan and the Polar Bear by S. Qaunaq

2012 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandy Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Polar Bear ◽  
Public Libraries ◽  
Picture Book ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Human Form ◽  
University Of Alberta ◽  
The Common ◽  
Push Down ◽  
The University

Qaunaq, Sakiasi.  The Orphan and the Polar Bear.  Iqaluit:  Inhabit Media, Inc., 2011. Print.One of the common themes in Inuit stories is that of the orphan child alone on the land.  In this version, told by Arctic Bay elder Sakiasi Qalinaq, who learned his stories from his grandmother, the orphan is abandoned by hunters from his village and adopted by a village of polar bears.  The bears teach him to hunt and survive on the land and, when he is grown, return him to his people.  The image on the cover of the book showing the child riding the polar bear is an iconic one. This mythological relationship between child and polar bear is also found in non-Inuit literature, most notably in Philip Pullman’s The Golden Compass. In the bears’ village the orphan is trained to hunt and survive on the land.  The bears also teach him their traditional wisdom.   For example, when one of the bears wants to go “push down” some humans because they “look so silly standing on their skinny legs”, a wiser elder bear says, “Never talk that way…don’t make humans our enemy.  Stay clear of them and their camps.” The book is primarily a picture-book. Unlike many of the other books of Inuit legends published by Inhabit Media, the pictures are not scary.  Rather they are quite beautiful.   The extra width of the landscape format gives artist, Eva Widermann, the opportunity to spread her illustrations across two pages reflecting the wide expanses of the Arctic.  Text usually takes up one corner or a few lines of a page.  Widermann’s images are realistic.  However, because this story is from a time when animals could shape-shift into human form, she sometimes gives the bears human postures and gestures.  For example, in the image on page 15, the polar bear is standing with a harpoon grasped in its front paws, handing it to the orphan.  Bears are also shown in their human form in three images. In the image on page 20, depicting the inside of an igloo in the bears’ village, a woman with human form is tending the fire.Overall this is a lovely rendition of the story.  While designed for an elementary school audience, anyone with an interest in traditional Arctic tales will enjoy it.  Recommended for elementary schools and public libraries. Recommendation:  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.

scholarly journals Cub’s Journey Home by G. Graham

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandy Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Forest Fire ◽  
Red Deer ◽  
Public Libraries ◽  
Picture Book ◽  
School Libraries ◽  
Reading Level ◽  
Running Water ◽  
University Of Alberta ◽  
The University

Graham, Georgia.  Cub’s Journey Home. Markham, ON:  Red Deer Press, 2015.  Print.Georgia Graham is a fine artist, but as a writer, needs a good editor.  Like her earlier work Where Wild Horses Run, this is a beautifully illustrated book.  Graham’s landscapes, trees, rivers, rocks, bears and flowers are all highly realistic. She tackles a variety of environments including snow, running water, forest fire, a burnt landscape and a garbage dump. Many of the images are frame-worthy.  There are flaws in the flames of her forest fire, some of which look like they belong on racing cars; however, in the next image, she absolutely captures the complexity of the fire reflected on swamp water.  Unfortunately, the text is an amalgamation of strange images and unusual or extravagant word choices. Why, for example, is a baby bear growing inside the mother called a “speck”?  There is so much purple prose that the reader is constantly distracted.  There are “long needles of sunlight” that “stab”.  The snow covering the den is “a curtain of lacy ice”. “A breeze runs its icy fingers through his fur.”  The cub “skedaddles”.  “A dark blanket [of smoke] rises up and steals the stars from the sky.” The whole text would have been much better if Graham had just written in her natural voice, as she occasionally does, to good effect.While the unusual word choices make the reading level of the text much too advanced for a picture book, the images, with their excellent rendering of Alberta landscapes, make it valuable.  This book is recommended with reservations for elementary school libraries and public libraries. Recommended with reservations: 2 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.

scholarly journals Animals Illustrated Series by Inhabit Media

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandy Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Polar Bear ◽  
Public Libraries ◽  
Picture Book ◽  
Reading Level ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
University Of Alberta ◽  
Related Text ◽  
The University ◽  
Natural Histories

Inhabit Media.  Animals Illustrated SeriesFlaherty, William.  Polar Bear, illustrated by Danny Christopher. Inhabit Media, 2016.Awa, Solomon.  Narwhal, illustrated by Hwei Lim. Inhabit Media, 2016.Niptanatiak, Allen.  Muskox, illustrated by Kagan McLeod. Inhabit Media, 2016. There are many picture book series that introduce the natural histories of various animals, often including Arctic animals.  However, few of these are created in the Arctic. These three authors all have first-hand knowledge of the animals.  William Flaherty is a conservation officer in Iqaluit and Solomon Awa is an Inuk from Igloolik, NU, who has lived a traditional lifestyle and Allen Niptanatiak is a hunter and trapper who lives at Kugluktuk, NU.   Polar Bear, Narwhal and Muskox the first three in Inhabit Media’s new Animals Illustrated series. Illustrations are usually spread across two pages with related text overprinted.  The illustrations, by Danny Christopher for Polar Bear and Hwei Lim for Narwhal are similar in style.  Both make extensive use of light blue, dark blue and white to represent the animals in their snow and water environments. Kagan MacLeod’s drawings for Muskox are brighter and show the more colourful tundra scenes.   There are also detailed drawings of the animals’ skeletons in each book.All of the books follow the familiar format of a natural history, with sections covering physical characteristics, range, skeleton, diet, reproduction, habitat and interesting information specific to the particular animal.  The interesting fact about the narwhal is that they have been known to dive more than 1,500 meters.  At the end of the polar bear book, there is a short description of the nanurluk, the mythological giant polar bear. The “Fun Fact” about the muskox is about how they use their horns.  There is also a “Traditional Uses” page that notes the use of the hides, meat and qiviut (muskox down).   Inhabit Media lists the audience for these books as ages 4-6, but the reading level of the text is Grade 4 and above. Younger children will enjoy the illustrations, but will need help to understand the text. These are excellent books that would be good acquisitions for school and public libraries, however, they contain little information that would not be found in similar works already held by many libraries.  Libraries with limited budgets might want to spend their money on some of Inhabit Media’s other works that contain unique content.  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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