Richard Schmitt
ED693
Critiquing Indigenous Literature
Book Review #3

March 21, 2006

Book Title: Tikkatoo's Journey: An Eskimo Folk Tale
Author: Amanda Loverseed
Illustrator: Amanda Loverseed
Published: 1990
Publisher: Bedrick / Blackie: New York.
ISBNL 0-87226-420-3
Grade Level: 2.0-4.0
Genre: Folk Tale

Summery:

Nannok is the village's oldest and wiser man. When an ice spirit enters his heart, he is soon very sick. Only a flame of fire from the sun can save him. After all the older hunters make excuses, Nanook's grandson, brave young Tikkatoo, goes on the dangerous journey beneath the seas and up into the skies to get a flame of fire from the sun to save his grandfather's life.

Author/Illustrator:

Amanda Loverseed was born in England in 1965 and studied illustration at the Cambridge College of Arts and Technology. Tikkatoo's Journey is her first book. Ms. Loverseed lives in Norfolk, England.

Tribal group portrayed: Eskimo (?)

Illustration and Cover Art:

All artwork was done by the author, Amanda Loverseed. There is little in the content or style of the artwork that is similar to Inupiaq, Yupik or Inuit styles of artistic design. However, the use of igloos, sledges and some of the clothing styles are probably drawn from Greenland or the Canadian Arctic. The drawings are surreal and, at times, bizarre. The fantasy creatures look as if they have been copied from European medieval drawings of the fearful unknown. The human characters are generic, unattractive and do not look like Natives in that they have brown hair and pale skin.

Each page is bordered with geometric or biomorphic patterns that are apparently intended to lend an ethnic quality to the drawings. Unfortunately, they again are not similar in any way to artistic motifs from the Arctic.

Stereotypes:

This book is one of a series entitled "Folktales of the World". Other titles in the series include stories from Africa, the Amazon, Australia (Aboriginal), India, Russia, China, South America, the Caribbean, Borneo, and Sri Lanka. These are each huge geographic areas which each encompass a wide diversity of cultures. To avoid stereotyping, it is necessary to specify the specific culture where the story originated. This is also true for Tikkatoos's Journey. To call it an Eskimo folktale, is too broad a category. "Eskimo" is too generic a term.

Tikkatoo's grandfather is named Nanook. The name is known mostly from the early silent film, "Nanook of the North". However, not all native men are named Nanook and by using the name, the author is capitalizing on the reader's preconceptions of Native people and their traditional life ways. These preconceptions may or may not be accurate to the tribal group depicted in the story.

The only character in the story the reader becomes familiar with is Tikkatoo. The other people from the village all remain in the background as a group, not as individuals.

The name "Tikkatoo" doesn't sound very authentic.

Dialogue:

The dialogue between the characters in the story is fairy tale-like simplistic, but seems natural. All the conversations are in English without Inuit exclamations etc. There is no attempt to use indigenous terms other than with people's names. Some words of indigenous origins like "kayak" and "igloo" are used, though kayak is spelled "kaiyak".

Distorted Lifestyles:

Though the book jacket claims the story is a retelling, the author needs to identify how and where she first heard the story for the claim to be credible. Tikkatoo's Journey seems to be a European folktale told within a Native setting. Many of the story elements are more like traditional European stories. Even the fantasy characters seem European derived. The ice berg man has a full beard. Sedna, the Goddess of the Sea, is in fact a mermaid. Mermaids are mythological creatures from European folklore. She is also referred to as a queen. The concept of royalty would be unknown to a traditional tribal people. The character of the Moon looks more like Humpty-Dumpty than a character from a traditional Inuit story.

Tikkatoo's Journey is a story of superstition. Legitimate traditional healing methods are never presented as an alternative to the fantasy trip that Tikkatoo takes.

Other distortions of lifestyle take place in the artwork. The clothing depicted is completely inaccurate. Everyone is shown wearing gloves rather than mittens. Parka styles are unfamiliar except that they have fur-trimmed hoods. Minimal attempt was made for authenticity in dog breeds, housing, tools or technology.

Role of Women:

There are women in that group of villages. They can be identified by the infants peeking out from their parkas. The only specific human woman portrayed in the book is Tikkatoo's mother. Her only role is to announce that Nannok is sick.The only other female characters are Sedna, the mermaid, and the Sun, who is depicted as being female.

Role of Elders:

Nanook is the Elder in the story. He has an exalted status and is described as being the wisest and oldest man in the village. His sickness is the cause of anxiety for the entire village and the reason for Tikkatoo's risky journey.

Effect's on Children's Self Image:

Children of this age group would not likely recognize on their own, the intrusion of European story elements into a tale purporting to be a traditional indigenous story. However, this would make a wonderful compare/contrast lesson within a literature unit of study. Children would enjoy the fantasy quality of the plot, but would probably find the artwork humorous. The success of Tikkatoo may inspire young children to try their best in their endeavors.

Standards of Success:

The lone hero saving the day seems to be from a more Western tradition of individualism than from an egalitarian tribal tradition.

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