Way Back Then

K-Gr 2—Way Back Then draws inspiration from Inuit oral tradition and is told with both English and Inuktitut words and syllabic characters. When Kudlu's children cannot fall asleep, he tells them short stories his mother used to tell him about how life came to be in the North. The wind is whistling outside the iglu, but inside, the family is cozy and safe as the dad tells his children tales about how a hole that was accidentally left open allowed for caribou to escape the underground, the time a quarreling fox and raven fought over the light, and the meaning behind their Inuit traditions and values. Each story is one page in length and appears beside a full-page illustration by Arnaktauyok, an Inuit artist. The characters are dressed in traditional clothing, and their belongings and surroundings resemble pointillism art. The 10 italicized words that appear in the story are defined in the glossary in the front of the book.