Tag: Inuit culture

Jean Craighead Gorge’s Julie and the Wolves

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Although outdated in its use of Eskimo, the book is an insight into life within the Arctic Circle as an Inuit as well as wolf behaviour.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.

Jamie Bastedo’s—On thin ice

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.