Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $9.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Way Back Then
    Way Back Then
    Way Back Then
    Ebook38 pages10 minutes

    Way Back Then

    By Neil Christopher and Germaine Arnattaujuq (Arnaktauyok)

    4/5

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    “A bilingual sampler—cold of setting but warm of spirit.” — ★ Kirkus Kudlu's children will not go to sleep until he tells them a story of long ago. Before they will shut their eyes, they want to hear about a time long before Kudlu was born, a time when the world was magic. Before they can sleep, they want to hear about giants, animals disguised as humans, little people the size of lemmings, and all of the other wonderful things that existed way back then.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherInhabit Media
    Release dateJul 15, 2015
    ISBN9781772270990
    Way Back Then
    Author

    Neil Christopher

    Neil Christopher is an educator, author, and filmmaker. He first moved to the North many years ago to help start a high school program in Resolute Bay, Nunavut. It was those students who first introduced Neil to the mythical inhabitants from Inuit traditional stories. Together with his colleague, Louise Flaherty, and his brother, Danny Christopher, Neil started a small publishing company in Nunavut called Inhabit Media Inc., and has since been working to promote Northern stories and authors.

    Read more from Neil Christopher

    Related to Way Back Then

    Related ebooks

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Japan’s Sacred Island

      Dec 5, 2019

      THE SHEER CLIFFS OF the small island of Okinoshima rise abruptly out of the sea some 40 miles off the coast of the Japanese island of Kyushu. Okinoshima’s sole resident is a Shinto priest who serves as the caretaker of small wooden shrines built amon

      10 min read

    • Article

      The Maya: We Are Here

      Mar 1, 2019

      The Maya: We Are Here
      3 min read

    • Article

      The Nevers season 1 part 1

      Jul 23, 2021

      The Nevers season 1 part 1
      1 min read

    • Article

      Inside the Arabian Nights

      Apr 25, 2019

      Inside the Arabian Nights
      11 min read

    • Article

      Drums, Lies, and Audiotape

      May 31, 2018

      My wife Ingrid and I had been in Aburi, Ghana for just over a week when our host, Kwame Obeng, informed me that I’d be joining the royal drummers for a performance at the chief’s palace the following afternoon, in celebration of an important holy day

      15 min read

    • Article

      Human Treasures

      Oct 11, 2020

      Human Treasures
      2 min read

    • Article

      Halloween’s Scary Fairies

      Oct 1, 2021

      Halloween’s Scary Fairies
      2 min read

    • Article

      Becoming Montero

      Aug 3, 2021

      Becoming Montero
      7 min read

    • Article

      Made in Iraq

      Mar 25, 2021

      People have been making games in Iraq for thousands of years. A popular pastime in ancient Mesopotamia – a region that enclosed much of modern-day Iraq and Kuwait together with parts of Syria and Turkey – was a strategy game in which players raced to

      8 min read

    • Article

      The Irish Potato Famine

      Sep 3, 2020

      The Potato Famine of 1845-49 was a watershed moment in Britain’s long history with Ireland, and the story of how a million deaths from mostly preventable disease and hunger happened on the doorstep of the world’s wealthiest country still shocks. Almo

      1 min read

    • Article

      Daily Life For The Maya

      Apr 23, 2020

      Daily Life For The Maya
      6 min read

    • Article

      Beware The Mino

      Oct 7, 2021

      Beware The Mino
      6 min read

    • Article

      The Travelling Artist

      Feb 10, 2022

      The Travelling Artist
      7 min read

    • Article

      Destination Erongo

      May 18, 2020

      Destination Erongo
      9 min read

    • Article

      Mark The Spot

      Jul 10, 2023

      Mark The Spot
      6 min read

    • Article

      Our own Lalele

      Nov 25, 2022

      Our own Lalele
      4 min read

    • Article

      Post

      Jan 18, 2021

      Post
      3 min read

    • Article

      Hang Out With

      Jan 20, 2020

      Hang Out With
      4 min read

    • Article

      Go With The Flow

      Sep 23, 2022

      Go With The Flow
      3 min read

    Reviews for Way Back Then

    4/5

    6 ratings2 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      An Inuit father shares brief origin tales with his children who want to hear stories from "long ago" before they go to sleep.
    • 4/5
      When Kudlu's two young children ask for a bedtime story in this bilingual Inuktitut/English picture-book, he tells them of what life was like in their northern world, "way back then." Young, and full of magic, the world held many wonders, from giants to little people who could change their size at will. Kudzu tells his children how night and day came to be, through the conflict between fox and raven; how caribou came to be on the land, after being accidentally released from their underground home; and how the sea became populated, thanks to the severed fingers of a beautiful girl tricked into marrying a bird spirit. These and many other stories are shared by Kudlu, until the children are finally sleeping...A delightful bedtime book, one which offers both an exploration of traditional Inuit folklore and mythology and an engaging depiction of a more contemporary, although still traditional Inuit family, ᑕᐃᒃᓱᒪᓂᐊᓗᒃ / Way Back Then pairs an engaging narrative from author Neil Christopher with appealing, subtly-colored artwork from illustrator Germaine Arnaktauyok. Many of the stories shared by Kudlu can also be found in fuller form in other Inhabit Media publications - the tale of how night and day came to be in Paula Ikuutaq Rumbolt's The Origin of Day and Night (although that version concerns a fox and a hare), or the story of how caribou came to the land as "Origin of the Caribou," in Ibi Kaslik's Tales from the Tundra: A Collection of Inuit Stories - but others were new to me. My favorite, of the latter, was probably the idea of magic igluit (igloos) flyinf through the air, at the request of their residents. I find the Inuktitut syllabary quite fascinating, so I appreciated that this was a bilingual edition. Recommended to anyone looking for Inuit-themed bedtime stories, or for a very basic introduction to Inuit mythology.

    Book preview

    Way Back Then - Neil Christopher

    Enjoying the preview?
    Page 1 of 1