Inuit
Synopsis:
There is a fashion show at Sapa and Martha's school! Sapa and Martha want to make something special to display at the show. Martha suggests they make an amaut, just like the one her biological mother, Paula, wore when Martha was a baby. As they work on the amaut, Sapa and Martha's friendship grows stronger as they learn more about each other and their families.
Educator & Series Information
This book is part of the Nunavummi Reading Series, a Nunavut-developed series that supports literacy learning while teaching readers about the people, traditions, and environment of the Canadian Arctic. It is a Level 13 book in the series.
Nunavummi Reading Series books have also been officially levelled using the Fountas & Pinnell Text Level Gradient™ Levelling System. This book's F&P Level is P.
Curriculum Connections: Diversity and Indigenous Perspectives
Recommended for ages 7 to 9.
Additional Information
40 pages | 8.00" x 8.00"
Synopsis:
Niaqualuk and Haugaaq live in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut. There is a big blizzard coming! Haugaaq wishes she could play outside more, but Niaqualuk is excited about playing inside. See what fun things the sisters do all day as the blizzard howls outside.
Educator & Series Information
Recommended for ages 3 to 5.
This book is part of the Community Storybooks series. These books tell fun and engaging stories that take place in different communities across Nunavut. Each book was written by an author from the community and has been carefully reviewed for authenticity.
Dual-language/Bilingual: Inuktitut and English
This book is available in Inuktitut and French here!
Additional Information
36 pages | 9.00" x 8.00" | Hardcover
Synopsis:
Kyle lives in Rankin Inlet, Nunavut. He is excited for the miniature boat race on Williamson Lake!
As Kyle gets ready to go to the race, the chain falls of his bike. Kyle hopes his ataata can fix it when he comes home. He knows his ataata can fix a lot of things, but will he be able to fix Kyle's bike?
Educator & Series Information
This is an Arvaaq Book. Books in this series are intended for infants and very young children and are designed to help children develop physical, social, emotional, cognitive, and language skills.
Recommended Ages: 3 - 5
Dual-Language: English and Inuktitut
Additional Information
40 pages | 8.00" x 8.00"
Synopsis:
The sea animals have disappeared, and people are starving. An old couple, once great shamans, are asked to journey to the Mother of the Sea to find out what happened to the animals. But the journey is dangerous and the old woman does not know if she will be able to please the Mother of the Sea and convince her to free the animals the people of her community so desperately need.
The Mother of the Sea is an important character in Inuit traditional stories shared across the circumpolar region. Known by many names across various regions of the Arctic, the Mother of the Sea is a powerful woman who can withhold the animals humans need to survive if she is displeased by human behaviour. Only a shaman is able to appease the Mother of the Sea and convince her to release the animals that the hunters so desperately need. This tale shares the specific traditional story of the Mother of the Sea told and retold in Greenland for generations.
Educator Information
Recommended for ages 9 to 12.
Additional Information
32 pages | 10.00" x 8.50"
Synopsis:
When Allashua disobeys her parents and goes fishing on the sea ice, she has to use her wits to escape the Qallupilluit--the troll-like creatures her parents have always warned her about that live beneath the frozen surface of the sea. But the only way to break out of their grasp is through an exchange: Allashua can go free if she brings her brothers and sisters back to the sea ice instead. Allashua doesn't want to give them up, but what can she do? After all, a promise is a promise.
Educator Information
A Promise Is a Promise is a collaboration between award-winning storyteller Michael Kusugak and celebrated children's author Robert Munsch. This 30th anniversary edition brings all of the tension of the traditional Inuit story to a new generation of readers. Added features include a new foreword by Michael Kusugak on his role as a storyteller and the importance of storytelling in Inuit culture.
This resource is also available in French: Une Promesse, C'est Une Promesse
Additional Information
32 pages | 7.80" x 7.90"
Synopsis:
Let’s go berry picking!
Follow a family as they go berry picking on a fall day in Nunavut.
Educator Information
Bilingual: English and Inuktitut
This is an Arvaaq Book. Books in this series are intended for infants and very young children and are designed to help children develop physical, social, emotional, cognitive, and language skills.
Additional Information
16 pages | 18.50" x 18.50"
Synopsis:
Toonik Tyme is a lot of fun!
This book describes different things that happen during Toonik Tyme, an annual festival in Iqaluit that celebrates Inuit traditions and the return of spring.
Educator & Series Information
This book is part of the Nunavummi Reading Series, a Nunavut-developed series that supports literacy learning while teaching readers about the people, traditions, and environment of the Canadian Arctic. It is a Level 7 book in the series.
Nunavummi Reading Series books have also been officially levelled using the Fountas & Pinnell Text Level Gradient™ Levelling System. This book's F&P Level is E.
Curriculum Connections: Language and literacy; Indigenous perspectives; Community engagement; History; Heritage
Recommended for ages 5-7.
Additional Information
16 pages | 10.00" x 10.00"
Synopsis:
What do you like to eat?
This book features some of the foods people eat in the North, such as bannock and cheese.
Educator & Series Information
This book is part of the Nunavummi Reading Series, a Nunavut-developed series that supports literacy learning while teaching readers about the people, traditions, and environment of the Canadian Arctic. It is a Level 4 book in the series.
Nunavummi Reading Series books have also been officially levelled using the Fountas & Pinnell Text Level Gradient™ Levelling System. This book's F&P Level is A.
Curriculum Connections: Language and literacy; Diversity; Indigenous perspectives
Recommended for ages 3-6.
Additional Information
12 pages | 7.00" x 7.00"
Synopsis:
Learn all about the history and traditional uses of the qulliq.
In this book, a grandmother teaches her grandchild how to light a qulliq and tells her about its history and traditional uses.
Educator & Series Information
This book is part of the Nunavummi Reading Series, a Nunavut-developed series that supports literacy learning while teaching readers about the people, traditions, and environment of the Canadian Arctic. It is a Level 9 book in the series.
Nunavummi Reading Series books have also been officially levelled using the Fountas & Pinnell Text Level Gradient™ Levelling System. F&P Level of this book: L.
Curriculum Connections: Language and Literacy; Diversity; Indigenous Perspectives; History and Heritage.
Recommended for ages 6 to 8.
Additional Information
32 pages | 8.00" x 6.00"
Synopsis:
Let’s count the animals we saw on the land.
This fun illustrated book helps children learn the names of animals and practise simple addition.
Educator & Series Information
This book is part of the Nunavummi Reading Series, a Nunavut-developed series that supports literacy learning while teaching readers about the people, traditions, and environment of the Canadian Arctic. It is a Level 7 book in the series.
Nunavummi Reading Series books have also been officially levelled using the Fountas & Pinnell Text Level Gradient™ Levelling System. This book's F&P Level is C.
Curriculum Connections: Language and literacy; Diversity; Indigenous perspectives; Environmental awareness
Recommended for ages 5-7.
Additional Information
12 pages | 7.00" x 7.00"
Synopsis:
This beautiful compendium of tales shares eight classic Inuit creation stories from the Baffin region. From the origins of day and night, thunder and lightning, and the sun and the moon to the creation of the first caribou and source of all the Arctic’s fearful storms, this book recounts traditional Inuit legends in the poetic and engaging style of authors Rachel and Sean Qitsualik-Tinsley.
Reviews
"...[a] complete package of story-telling and art for giving voice to classic Inuit creation stories and meaningful discussion of beginnings and endings." - CanLit for Little Canadians
Additional Information
80 pages | 7.00" x 10.00"
Synopsis:
We use water for a lot of things.
This book describes the different ways people use water in the Arctic.
Educator & Series Information
This book is part of the Nunavummi Reading Series, a Nunavut-developed series that supports literacy learning while teaching readers about the people, traditions, and environment of the Canadian Arctic. It is a Level 7 book in the series.
Nunavummi Reading Series books have also been officially levelled using the Fountas & Pinnell Text Level Gradient™ Levelling System. This book's F&P Level is C.
Curriculum Connections: Language and literacy; Indigenous perspectives
Recommended for ages 5-7.
Additional Information
16 pages | 8.00" x 6.00"
Synopsis:
Nadia Sammurtok lovingly invites the reader into the amautik—the pouch in the back of a mother’s parka used to carry a child—to experience everything through the eyes of the baby nestled inside, from the cloudlike softness of the pouch to the glistening sound of Anaana’s laughter.
Sweet and soothing, this book offers a unique perspective that will charm readers of all ages.
Reviews
"Each spread appeals to a different sense, creating a deliciously cozy and nurturing microenvironment for this lucky tot. Inuit author and educator Sammurtok brings her work preserving Inuktitut to the text, with a spare sprinkling of vocabulary (defined in a closing glossary). The repetition of “In my anaana’s amautik” at the beginning of each short paragraph is both lulling and reinforcing of the relationship between child and mother. Canadian illustrator Lishchenko’s use of textures and subtle colors blends well with the strong, simple text. Delicate pastels give the Arctic landscape a welcoming beauty, and fanciful depictions of the similes the narrator suggests lend a playful air. The far north has never felt so deliciously warm." — Kirkus, STARRED review
"This gentle story is warm, cozy, and loving—just like being in anaana’s amautik. Readers will carry this gorgeous book close to their hearts." — School Library Journal, STARRED review
"A baby's perspective of being held in its anaana's (mother's) amautik ("the pouch in the back of a woman's parka where a baby can be carried") is explored in lulling, sensory-rich text and illustrations. This gentle story elevates the feelings of comfort and security that the amautik enables."— Horn Book Magazine, STARRED review
Educator Information
Recommended for ages 3 and under.
Additional Information
24 pages | 9.00" x 9.00"
Synopsis:
Discover this gigantic Northern tale.
This book introduces children to a traditional Inuit legend. Learn how the great giant Inukpak adopted a human hunter as his son.
Educator & Series Information
This book is part of the Nunavummi Reading Series, a Nunavut-developed series that supports literacy learning while teaching readers about the people, traditions, and environment of the Canadian Arctic. It is a Level 11 book in the series.
Nunavummi Reading Series books have also been officially levelled using the Fountas & Pinnell Text Level Gradient™ Levelling System. F&P Level of this book: M.
Curriculum Connections: Language and Literacy; Diversity; Indigenous Perspectives; History and Heritage.
Recommended for ages 6 to 8.
Additional Information
36 pages | 9.10" x 9.20"
Synopsis:
What do your family members do?
This book describes the jobs of different members of a child’s family.
Educator & Series Information
This book is part of the Nunavummi Reading Series, a Nunavut-developed series that supports literacy learning while teaching readers about the people, traditions, and environment of the Canadian Arctic. It is a Level 6 book in the series.
Nunavummi Reading Series books have also been officially levelled using the Fountas & Pinnell Text Level Gradient™ Levelling System. This book's F&P Level is B.
Curriculum Connections: Language and literacy; Diversity; Indigenous perspectives; Roles and responsibilities; Community engagement
Recommended for ages 5-7.
Additional Information
12 pages | 8.00" x 8.00"