I Would Give You My Tail

Written by Tanya Tagaq

Illustrated by Qavavau Manumie 

Tundra Books

978-1-77488-057-9

32 pp.

Ages 3-7

April 2025

 

What is the secret to happiness? For a child sent to bring his grandmother back to camp to help with the birth of his new sibling, Kalluk finds many answers and from those who enrich his own northern life.

From I Would Give You My Tail, written by Tanya Tagaq, illustrated by Qavavau Manumie

On his journey, Kalluk encounters different animals and natural elements and asks each why they are so happy. The first, a pair of hares, find their happiness in being fast and clever but also from protecting the other. One hare even declares, "I would give you my tail if I could." A babbling brook delights in being cold and clean and enjoying the sensation of running over rocks and giving satisfaction to the fish. With each encounter, including with a mother fox and her pups, the boy feels gratitude for the food provided, the fresh water to be had, and the care and love his own mother had always given him. 

From I Would Give You My Tail, written by Tanya Tagaq, illustrated by Qavavau Manumie

When he fetches his grandmother, Anaanattiaq, they travel together back to camp. Kalluk takes time on their journey to ask his grandmother the same question. The wisdom of her words are not lost on the child.

You get peace from inside. Every day, life gives you choices, and when you make the choice to be a kind person, the goodness inside of you grows.

From I Would Give You My Tail, written by Tanya Tagaq, illustrated by Qavavau Manumie

An encounter with a conspiracy of ravens brings forth a discussion of wisdom and sharing, and ends with an airborne journey, a dialogue with the wind, and a swift delivery of Anaanattiaq and Kalluk to a home with a new infant. Now Kalluk has insight about gratitude and making good choices and more to share with his new baby sister.

From I Would Give You My Tail, written by Tanya Tagaq, illustrated by Qavavau Manumie

I defy anyone not to feel a peacefulness while reading I Would Give You My Tail. It's not as simple a story as it may appear to be. It's loaded with the calm that comes with appreciation for what we have and are given and the relationships we have with others and the natural world. Tanya Tagaq, an Inuk throat singer and author from Nunavut, fills her words with weight, the weight of virtue and relevance, generosity and acknowledgement. Through Kalluk's grasp of the messages he hears from the wind, and the hares, the ravens and the brook, he and the reader vicariously are filled with thankfulness for what is given by family and the environment. And Tanya Tagaq does so without preaching or admonishment. Her message is borne on affection and honour.

 

Qavavau Manumie, an Inuit artist in Kinngait, Nunavut, created the artwork of I Would Give You My Tail with coloured pencil. As such, there is a simplicity in the shapes and colours of the illustrations but there is still a complexity of spirit. From the natural touch of a mother upon her child's head to a boy as he watches and inquires, the art of Qavavau Manumie both emphasizes the familiar and the unique in the way of family and Inuit life, respectively.

 

Perhaps there are messages in I Would Give You My Tail about gratitude and happiness, but I also took away a sense of peace, a sense that there is appreciation for life in the natural world and among the Inuit. There is no need for grand gestures or spectacles of PDA when there is honesty and happiness that comes from doing for others, from being good, from sharing, and even from just having breath and food and water. I Would Give You My Tail gives us more than a sentimental tale of family. It gives us hope that happiness is readily at hand.