Citation: Chrisopher, N. (2015). ᑕᐃᒃᓱᒪᓂᐊᓗᒃ / Way back then (G. Arnaktauyok, Illus.). Inhabit Media.
Written in both English and Inuktitut, this book offers a varity of different Inuit folktales. Situated as a father telling his children bedtime stories, we as readers get to discover the different stories of their culture.
The book exemplifies great use of magical language to describe what is going on in each story, as well as repeating the book title on each page, making it easier to notice patterns. The illustrations must be mentioned, helping move the stories along and make connnections between them, and they are in a traditionally Inuit drawing style.
The book speaks about a time pre-colonization, which is useful to situate us in our time and space. By reading books from other cultures, there can be foundational respect for other ways of being and thinking. There is consistent mention that the earth has what we need, and asks the reader to use their imagination to actively imagine different social and historical scenarios.