Una Huna? What is This?

Publisher Description (Inhabit Books, 2018):
Ukpik loves living in her camp in the North with her family. When a captain from the south arrives to trade with Ukpik’s father, Ukpik is excited to learn how to use the forks, knives, and spoons he brings with him.

At first, Ukpik enjoys teaching the other children how to use these new tools. But soon, she starts to wonder if they’ll need to use the new tools all the time, and if that means that everything in camp will change. After a conversation with her grandmother, Ukpik realizes that even though she will learn many new things, her love for her family and camp will never change.

Author Biography (Good Minds, 2018):
Susan Aglukark is Canada’s first Inuk artist to win a Juno. She has also won a Governor General’s Performing Arts Award for lifetime artistic achievement and she is an officer of the Order of Canada. Susan holds several honorary doctorate degrees and has held command performances. During a career that has spanned more than twenty-five years, Susan’s journey as a singer-songwriter has led her to reflect on who she is, where she comes from and the importance of discovery—discovery of history, culture, and self. This time of reflection, writing, and songwriting has Susan coming back to one area of profound knowing: Inuit are an extraordinary people deeply grounded in a culture forged by their ancestors

Resource type: Picturebook

Age recommendation: Pre-kindergarten, Grades K-3, 4-6

Keywords: Residential school, language, Residential schools, trauma, cultural revitalizaton, fur trade, colonialism, settlers, colonization, identity, identity loss, family, tradition, historical consideration, travelling, animals, Inuk, North, language, English, Inuktitut, dual-language, pronunciation

Year of publication: 2018

Publisher information: Inhabit Media