Tanna's Owl

Written by Rachel and Sean Qitsualik-Tinsley

Illustrated by Yong Ling Kang

Inhabit Media

978-1-77227-250-5

32 pp.

Ages 5-8

January 2020

In "A Greeting from Rachel" as the preface to the book, Rachel Qitsualik-Tinsley recounts how all animals were important and considered family. When her father brings home an orphaned baby snowy owl, she learns an important lesson about caring and ownership.

I don't think you can really own an animal. Or a piece of Land. Or anything, actually. You can only bring things together. Learn to help. To care.

The little grey and brown owl with the big eyes that Tanna thought to be ugly at first needs lots of care. They house the little bird whom they called Ukpik (Inuktut for owl) in her father's workshop. It needs to eat several times a day and that means Tanna and her siblings must go out to catch lemmings. When Ukpik does not get her food right away, she stomps and sways and chomps in her demanding way.

From Tanna's Owl by Rachel and Sean Qitsualik-Tinsley, illus. by Yong Ling Kang

As Ukpik grows, becoming both bigger, less cute and more dangerous with her sharp beak, Tanna continues to feed her, now giving her any kind of meat or fish. When Tanna takes her outside, Ukpik looks interested in flying, flapping her wings, but she is too young to fly yet. After Tanna goes away to school and returns the following summer, she learns that Ukpik is gone.

"It was grown," Father told her. "The owl didn't belong to us. It had to fly free."

From Tanna's Owl by Rachel and Sean Qitsualik-Tinsley, illus. by Yong Ling Kang

Though the child had felt burdened taking care of the little owl, she missed Ukpik. So when she spots a fully grown snowy owl, Tanna hopes that maybe it was the owl she'd cared for.

From Tanna's Owl by Rachel and Sean Qitsualik-Tinsley, illus. by Yong Ling Kang

Though many a child will bring home an animal for which to care, Tanna's Owl is a unique tale of the far north and embedded in a culture and heritage that respects its animals as part of the Land or Water or Sky. Tanna's father is very matter-of-fact about her need to care for the orphaned bird but also for its need to leave when ready. Staying as a family pet was not respectable nor natural. Tanna knows this in her heart but she obviously comes to care for the animal who may not have seen the little girl as more than a food source. Fortunately, her father's wisdom is subtly shared with the child about what she needs to do, positive or sad.

Nunavut's Rachel and Sean Qitsualik-Tinsley's stories always bring readers to an Inuit world of place, people and experience. I've reviewed a variety of their tales from origin stories in How Things Came To Be: Inuit Stories of Creation (Inhabit Media, 2016) to history in Tuniit: Mysterious Folk of the Arctic (Inhabit Media, 2015) or picture books like Lesson for the Wolf (Inhabit Media, 2015). They provide a real glimpse into life in the Arctic for the Inuit people and a reminder that they reside in a natural world that is vast and complex. With their stories, we learn more each time. Accompanied by the simple and informative illustrations by Toronto's Yong Ling Kang, children will see what a baby owl and a full-grown snowy look like as well as how an Inuit family may live. The art depicts a modesty of life with a practicality of wisdom and pleasures while still representing familial and natural connections.

Inviting us in to learn the story of Tanna's Owl, Rachel and Sean Qitsualik-Tinsley with Yong Ling Kang have taught us more bout compassion, responsibility and respect, as well as cultural experience, than any school lesson might.

From Tanna's Owl by Rachel and Sean Qitsualik-Tinsley, illus. by Yong Ling Kang

Peg Bearskin: A traditional Newfoundland folktale

As told by Mrs. Elizabeth Brewer

Adapted by Philip Dinn and Andy Jones

Illustrated by Denise Gallagher

Running the Goat, Books & Broadsides

978-1-927917-19-0

44 pp.

All ages

February 2019

Peg Bearskin may be big and ugly and hairy but she's clever and that gumption and canniness make all the difference to her life and those of others.

From Peg Bearskin, illus. by Denise Gallagher

Peg Bearskin is one of three daughters but, alas, her sisters are "pretty as ever the sun shined on" and Peg Bearskin is not. As they grow older, her sisters, like many people, want nothing to do with Peg but she persists in following them. It's lucky for them that she does as, when they spend the night at the home of an old woman, Peg's instincts and exploration lead her to discover the woman to be a witch who possesses a decanter that never empties, a lantern that shines for half a mile without fuel, and a swift horse with magic bells for wishing. Realizing that the witch intends to kill her sisters, Peg tricks the old woman and the three escape. 

When the three siblings get older, Peg goes to see a king with three marriageable sons. She promises the decanter to him if he'd allow her oldest sister to marry his oldest son. She only asks for a handful of pepper to achieve her task of acquiring the decanter for him. While the witch's old man uses the decanter, Peg throws the pepper at him and grabs the pitcher.  Similarly, she steals the lantern to secure a husband for her other sister. Finally, she does the same for herself, using a knife and saw to steal the horse with its magical bells.

From Peg Bearskin, illus. by Denise Gallagher

But, the third son is distraught to be married to Peg. Recognizing that perhaps making a wish on a bell might give him what he wants, Peg shares with him the secret of the bells, upon which he wishes for Peg to be beautiful. And, though the reader will see that Peg does not appear to be any different, the prince, who has turned big, ugly and hairy himself, sees Peg as "the most beautiful woman that water ever wet or the sun ever shined on."

Peg Bearskin may focus on Peg's appearance as defining how she is seen but it supersedes that characterization by showcasing how clever she is. She doesn't need to be beautiful in the same terms of her sisters, and Peg Bearskin justifies the phrase that beauty is in the eyes of the beholder because Peg is beautiful by her astuteness. Even in the end, when her husband wishes her to be beautiful, it's not her that must change. 

From Peg Bearskin, illus. by Denise Gallagher

This traditional Newfoundland folktale is derived from Mrs. Elizabeth Brewer's story told to a folklore student in 1976 and is part of the Memorial University of Newfoundland Folklore and Language Archive (MUNFLA) and shared in multiple editions of books on the folktales of Newfoundland. Philip Dinn and Andy Jones adapted it for a storytelling play in the late 1990s and several versions have been published over the years. This edition, illustrated by Louisiana artist Denise Gallagher, lends a folk art feel to the story. With its earthy green tones and beet red touches, Peg Bearskin becomes a true reflection of the folklife of Newfoundland while continuing to focus on the message that beauty should be accepted in its different manifestations. It's storytelling that can be heard in the Newfoundland vernacular of "mudder" and "et" and "spose" and in the supernatural elements of wishing for children, an evil witch, and magical phenomena. There is beauty in all of it and most of all in Peg Bearskin herself.

To This Day: For the Bullied and the Beautiful

Written by Shane Koyczan

Annick Press

9781554516391

72 pp.

Ages 9+

For release September 2014

When Canadian spoken word artist Shane Koyczan wrote and performed his poem To This Day, about his experiences and those of others being bullied when younger, he probably could not have foreseen the truly amazing global impact that it would have. But global it did become when his performance of the poem was animated in a video posted to his YouTube channel as part of the To This Day Project in February 2013.  Over 14 million views later, To This Day continues to send an important message of anti-bullying.

This month, Annick Press releases a static version of Shane Koyczan's poem with double-page spread illustrations by thirty international artists, over half Canadian. In a variety of media and styles, artists interpreted the words from the poem To This Day, providing graphic substance to a poem as real and tangible as it could get.

For anyone who has experienced bullying, as a victim, an instigator, or an observer (and sadly, that probably means everyone), To This Day will resonate loudly with the tales of Shane Koyczan's experiences with bullying, as well as those of other children. From French artist Barroux's powerful image of hands flinging blackened speech bubbles at a boy attempting to protect his face, ears, and eyes from them, to Canadian Kim Stewart's waves of sleeping forms over which the bullying victim cautiously treads upon a tightrope, all the illustrations pound out the viciousness of bullying and juxtapose it against the frosting that could be love and kindness.  A full listing of the artists' bios is available at www.annickpress.com/To-This-Day for more details.

In addition to the graphic representation of the poem, To This Day includes the story behind the development of the video, resources for help against bullying, links to sites related to the poem and personal anecdotes of bullying experiences of the artists.

If you are left with only one message, take this one from Shane Koyczan from his introduction, i.e., Greetings, in which he encourages everyone to find the perfect medium to express yourself.

"Remember that the world will never hear you if you choose to say nothing." (pg. 1)