Author: Mallee Stanley

Jean Craighead Gorge’s Julie and the Wolves

Miyaz, Julie’s Inuit name, flees from Barrow (now Utqiagvik) to escape from Daniel and heads south towards Point Hope, hoping to work on a ship to San Francisco. Using the skills she learned from her father as a child in the seal camp, she navigates the tundra, but loses her sense of direction. Desperate, she stays close to a pack of wolves hoping to get some food from their hunt otherwise she is going to die.
Although outdated in its use of Eskimo, the book is an insight into life within the Arctic Circle as an Inuit as well as wolf behaviour. A great story.

Mallee Stanley’s—You can’t clap with one hand

This is my seventh year at reviewing my best reads, but the first time I’m mentioning You can’t clap with one hand. It’s my third manuscript, but the first to be published. The blurb on the back cover reads:

Growing up in a South Asian household in Uganda, Guli becomes an expert at crafting successful schemes to outwit her father and his misogynistic ways. Years later, when Idi Amin seizes power, the Nile becomes a grim stream of death and Guli fails to outsmart her husband. His ambition blinds him and thrusts her in a perilous situation with long lasting consequences.

It was inspired by my time in Uganda during Idi Amin’s rule and I’ve written about some of those experiences on my travel blog on wordpress—From here to there.

Jamie Bastedo’s—On thin ice

Ashley’s family have moved to the northern Canadian village of Nanurtalik where because of her mixed heritage, she doesn’t feel she fits in with the Inuit people in her village or at school. But vivid dreams of polar bears and storms confuse and frighten her. And when she looks into Uncle Jonah staring at her, she senses fear. Will she be able to overcome and interpret her dreams?

This is a beautifully written YA coming of age story about Ashley discovering her roots and purpose with a window into Inuit culture.

Laura Bates’s—The New Age of Sexism

This is a very difficult book to read. It’s not the language—it’s the content. But an important present day view especially important for all women as it explores misogynistic software such as Deepfakes and Metaverse as well as the long term influences this has on men and therefore women’s safety and relationships. There are also chapters on sex robots, image based sexual abuse that is rampant. For example, in Korea, women fear using public washrooms because men are placing hidden cameras in them. Then the author fact checks AI and finds it is not always correct. Additionally, it is stereotyping its responses.

Well written and researched. I highly recommend this book.