Normee Ekoomiak is an Inuit man who grew up in Fort George, Quebec, Canada, which is along the shores of Hudson Bay. From what he writes about himself, he grew up traditionally, living a subsistence lifestyle with his family. He is an artist, and it seems that he has written this book by describing his drawings, paintings, and wool embroidery. He writes that all of these pieces of art and his descriptions are from his memories of childhood and from the stories that he was told about times long ago. Each page is a new piece of art and a short story or description of the art. The book is written in both English and Inuktitut, and on each page, the Inuktitut passage is printed first.

The way the book is written means that there are no real characters or a storyline, as each page is just one snippet of memory or a story that Ekoomiak tells. Each description gives just enough information to make it interesting, but not enough to give the reader a full picture of what life is or was like for his people.

The best thing about this book is the illustrations. Ekoomiak's art is simple yet beautiful. All of the pieces are very interesting, but my favorites are the wool embroidery pieces; they are very unique. In the description of Ekoomiak, the book notes that he learned his embroidery techniques from his grandfather, and he also went to school at the New Art School of Toronto, so he probably has integrated his traditional skills with western ones that he learned in college.

At times this book appears to be playing on some stereotypes, such as the "iglu," but on closer inspection it seems more likely that Ekoomiak is just recounting his very specific experience, which included living in an iglu for part of the year. I feel good about this book, and I would recommend it for use in a classroom. I think it would be a good idea to talk about the book, to discuss that this is Ekoomiak's very specific group of memories and stories, and that its worth is in learning about his experience, not in generalizing the stories written here to anyone else's experience or reality. I think it would be a great example to use to show students how to write their own memories and stories and illustrate them.

» HAIL Book Reviews