James A. Houston,
James Houston's Treasury of Inuit Legends
Harcourt Inc., 2006

Rating: E*

James Houston's Treasury of Inuit Legends is a collection of four short stories with a foreword by Theodore Taylor.

Tiktaliktak is a story of survival. Tiktaliktak becomes stranded on a nearby island (far from his family's home) and digs his own grave. He lays down to die, but something within him causes him to try to survive.

The White Archer is very young when strange men arrive. They tell a story of how they stole from some others to survive. The others come in the night and kill all of the relatives. He manages to escape to a nearby village and swears revenge. The story follows his quest for revenge

Akavak: Young Akavak is asked to take his dying grandfather to see his brother before he dies. Akavak is warned to stay on the sea ice, and not to go into the mountains. A bear eats their food. The sea ice is melting and his grandfather convinces Akavak that he knows the mountains very well and they can go that way. All but one of the sled dogs plummets to their death with the sled on a glacier. This adventure is a gripping journey throughout.

Wolf Run: Panniq's family is starving. He decides to go on his own to try to find food. His Grandfather and Grandmother wish him luck and prayers. Panniq is not interested in his grandparent's beliefs and sets out. In this story, Panniq learns about his ability, and also revives his belief in his family's culture.

This collection of tales is excellent. They remind me of Gary Paulsen's 'Brian' series. I was very impressed by the way these stories were told with rich language and details of a distant culture not too far in the past. The illustrations are black and white charcoals. Each of the stories is excellent and will keep both the individual reader and the read aloud audience very interested. A must have!

Thematic Links: Inuit; Survival

John Dryden
Vol. 13, number 1
October 2007

*Rating System:
E - Excellent, enduring, everyone should see it!
G - Good, even great at times, generally useful!
A - Average, all right, has its applications.
P - Problematic, puzzling, poorly presented.