The Muskox and the Caribou

Written by Nadia Mike

Illustrated by Tamara Campeau

Inhabit Media

978-1-77227-163-8

36 pp.

Ages 5-7

February 2018

While The Muskox and the Caribou is obviously a story rooted in the Arctic where both species co-exist, children everywhere will appreciate the story of Baby Muskox and Baby Caribou and Mother Caribou who loved them both.

The story begins with the birth of Baby Caribou who is born to a loving Mother Caribou and learns to walk and gallop with the herd. One day, Mother Caribou spots Baby Muskox wandering helplessly alone and lost and leads him along with her own offspring back to the herd. Baby Muskox knows he is different. He has long and dark shaggy hair and his legs are short and stocky, very different from the caribou. Sadly, Baby Caribou and his friends don't seem to like Baby Muskox very much and tease him about his differences.  It is only with Mother Caribou that Baby Muskox feels love and comfort.

From The Muskox and the Caribou by Nadia Mike, illus. by Tamara Campeau

Months pass and the young animals grow. Even when the young are prodded by Mother Caribou to go out and explore independently, Baby Muskox returns to the safety and love of his adopted mother. Finally, when fully grown, Mother Caribou takes Baby Muskox on a long walk to see animals such as himself. For the first time, the muskox understands why he never fit in and, though he is sad to learn he isn't a caribou at all, he is excited to get to know others who are just like him.

But most of all, he was grateful for Mother Caribou because she had always shown him love. (pg. 26)

From The Muskox and the Caribou by Nadia Mike, illus. by Tamara Campeau

All children will feel different from others at one point or another.  It may be the way they look or what they can do or can't do or the way they feel.  Some may not feel like they belong in the family to which they were born or with whom they live.  But if The Muskox and the Caribou teaches anything it is that love can make things tolerable and allow growth. Baby Muskox may never have realized he was a muskox but he knew he wasn't like the caribou and that caused him much sadness. Only Mother Caribou made things right. Unfortunately Baby Caribou who'd always known that he belonged could have been a better sibling to Baby Muskox but he did not see the impact of his actions on the young muskox.

Nadia Mike's humble story of a baby muskox taken in by a mother caribou and loved and sheltered along with her own young provides may teachable moments about love and differences and empathy.  Children who live in the Arctic will more likely recognize the two animals and how different they are, but all children will accept that the muskox and the caribou could be any individuals who are different and can still coexist. With love, all is possible.

Northern Quebec illustrator Tamara Campeau provides a natural landscape for The Muskox and the Caribou, emphasizing the rugged terrain and tundra vegetation as the backdrop for the story.  While the animals as babies are softened and simplified, they are true and realistic, and Tamara Campeau makes The Muskox and the Caribou as much a teaching book about the Arctic as she does enhancing Nadia Mike's story with art.

Though all children will delight in a story about baby animals, The Muskox and the Caribou should be read to send a message that we all belong somewhere and, until that somewhere is found, love can help brook time and place.

Akilak's Adventure

by Deborah Kigjugalik Webster

Illustrated by Charlene Chua

Inhabit Media

978-1-77227-123-2

32 pp.

Ages 5-7

November 2016

“…your destination is not running away; it will be reached eventually.” (pg. 6)

This is now Akilak’s grandmother reassures the young girl when she sends her off on her own when the older woman injures herself.  Akilak must travel on foot to her uncle’s camp, hopefully reaching it before nightfall, so that she might get food which they had planned on replenishing during a hunting trip, now cancelled.

The journey across the tundra is long but making the acquaintance of Caribou who decides to accompany the young girl on her journey makes the distance more manageable.  As the two companions trek across the northern landscape, Akilak’s imagination has her wondering how much more quickly she could travel as a fish across the water, or a fleet-footed wolf across the land, or as a snow goose across the sky.  But when Caribou asks whether she would really choose to be an animal rather than a human, Akilak understands the value of being exactly who she is.

From Akilak's Adventure 

by Deborah Kigjugalik Webster 

illus. by Charlene Chua

From their shelter to their clothing and footwear, and their habits and the nuance of language, Deborah Kigjugalik Webster has accomplished what she set out to do: told a wonderful story contextualized in Inuit culture.  She may have intended this originally for her daughters but by wrapping in her own Inuit heritage the story of an imaginative young girl with a seemingly daunting task, Deborah Kigjugalik Webster has created a tale that will entertain, teach and inspire all.  Artist Charlene Chua, who has also illustrated Fishing with Grandma (Susan Avingaq and Maren Vsetula, 2016) and Leah’s Mustache Party (Nadia Mike, 2016) for Inhabit Media, adds an effortlessness to the realism of her illustrations.  Though depicting animals with representative flair, Charlene Chua keeps the energy of the story gentle, never miring her art in the enormity of Akilak’s mission but instead illustrating it as the adventure Deborah Kigjugalik Webster, Akilak and Caribou all recognize it to be. I wish I could adequately scan the double-spread illustrations to share the sweetness of Charlene Chua’s cartoon-like creations because they convey more completely the breadth of Akilak’s Adventure than my mere words can.

I’m sorry that I missed announcing the book launch for Akilak's Adventure which was held on November 13, 2016 at Kaleidoscope Kids’ Books in Ottawa but it's better to get the book late rather than never.  Akilak’s Adventure has timeless teachings about responsibility and the importance of imagination to make it a worthwhile read now and always.

From Akilak's Adventure 

by Deborah Kigjugalik Webster 

illus. by Charlene Chua

Lesson for the Wolf

by Rachel and Sean Qitsualik-Tinsley

Illustrated by Alan Cook

Inhabit Media

978-1-77227-005-1

32 pp.

Ages 4-7

May 2015

Any book that can teach self-acceptance in a succinct but non-preachy manner is a keeper.  But, coupled with an appreciation for the Arctic and its innate beauty, Lesson for the Wolf is all the more poignant.

The story begins with the wolf “who disliked all the things that wolves enjoy” like running and playing and hunting and hanging with other wolves.  He’s a bit of a loner, preferring to study other animals including the wolverine and the snowy owl.  So overwhelmed by the beauty of the Land and compelled to feel part of it, not be “just a wolf”, he gathers some fallen caribou antlers, some wolverine hair and a feather from an angry owl and sings to the Land until “his own life moved with the life of the Land.”  Imbued with power, he is transformed into a wolf with an antlered head, a feathered body and a bushy orange and black tail.

Problem is that the wolf is no longer a wolf and not even a caribou, a wolverine or a snowy owl.  He is embarrassed and starving, and runs from the other wolves.  But they are his salvation.  They help him recognize “the greatest beauty that a wolf can know” and return him to his former beautiful self.

The wolf of Lesson for the Wolf is truly a creature of the Land, so filled with love for its beauty and creatures.  But, like so many of us, he cannot see the beauty within, not realizing until it is too late what he has lost by coveting the attributes of the other animals.  Lesson for the Wolf provides an Arctic-themed story for the idiom of “The grass is always greener” and it works so well because of the partnership of Rachel and Sean Qitsualik-Tinsley.  Rachel Qitsualik-Tinsley speaks from one who knows the Arctic, born in a wilderness camp and being of Inuit ancestry. Sean Qitsualik-Tinsley comes at the story from the folklorist side.  Together they make Lesson for the Wolf a story resplendent in a valuable lesson about self-acceptance and in the beauty of the Arctic Land and Sky and its creatures.  Alan Cook, who studied animation at Sheridan College, uses subtle colour and line to evoke an Arctic of contrasts: delicate and bold, elusive and obvious, precarious and inviting.  An amazing accomplishment with a limited palette of whites, browns and turquoises (except for the single spread in which the wolf transforms).  Still, the wolf and the other creatures and the landscape in Lesson for the Wolf are truly characteristic of the tundra and complement Rachel and Sean Qitsualik-Tinsley’s newest foray into wisdom-sharing stories.

Caribou Song / Atihko Nikamon

by Tomson Highway

Illustrated by John Rombough

Fifth House Publishers

978-1-89725-261-1

32 pp.

Ages 4+

June, 2013

Joe and Cody are two brothers who travel with their parents by dog sled across the tundra all year round.  Joe plays the kitoochigan, an accordion, while his younger brother dances.  At one stop, a large rock in the middle of a meadow seems a fine spot for music and dance, especially when singing, "Ateek, ateek! Astum, astum!" ("Caribou, caribou! Come, come!"). Engrossed in their play, the two boys do not hear the rumbling of thousands of caribou heading their way, even though young Cody has fallen onto the caribou moss below.  While their parents fear for the boys' safety, the rapids of powerful beasts carry the boys along and the mystical voice of the herd invites them to know the caribou spirit.

Tomson Highway, award-winning Canadian and Cree playwright and author, originally offered this tantalizing story in 2001, illustrated by Brian Deines (HarperCollins, 2001). This new edition, illustrated by Chipewyan Dene artist John Rombough,  emphasizes the intensity of the story, specifically the emotional experience of the boys amidst the enormity of and the potentially fatal caribou run.  The bold and rich tones of blues and purples, strongly outlined in unrelenting black visually depict the fierce, almost violent nature of the landscape and the caribou in run.  The intermittent golden hues of the sky and other backgrounds lend a warm cushion that provides relief from the terror and hostility of the boys' circumstances.  

Presented in English and Cree, Caribou Song will take young readers to a world fast disappearing: one of a frozen landscape of snow and traditional hunting and life on the tundra.  For those readers who can appreciate the high Cree translation of Caribou Song, this new edition suggests that there are still valuable ways to retain their ancestral ways.