The Storytellers' Club: The Picture-Writing Women of the Arctic [Hardcover]

Loretta Outwater Cox (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2005

In the dark months of the Far North, a group of women decide to meet regularly and tell stories about the times and people of their youth. Each story delivers universal truths about family unity, respect, grief, and overcoming challenges.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Adult/High School-Hailed as The Joy Luck Club of the Arctic, this novel captures the world of the Inupiaq of Alaska. Interwoven with the depiction of Cox's great-grandmother's daily activities are the oral stories of her ancestors. These tales have been kept alive by a group of women who meet regularly during the dark months to share stories. The storyteller weaves the story while the other participants carefully draw symbols, lines, or shapes that help them to remember it. The book is set in the 1920s, but the tales are from the women's youth, around the late 1800s. The stories range from the everyday-favorite recipes-to legends of giants and spiders that live among the people. They are lessons in history, both because these are women who never learned to read and write, and because they record the history of the Alaskan Indians. Their power is that they contain universal themes: family unity, respect for others, welcoming strangers, building up the weak, overcoming difficulty, and wrestling with grief. Readers will learn about the federal government's plan to bring education to the people of Alaska and how the Indians responded. In the end, teens will appreciate the difficulty of life in the far North.-Erin Dennington, Chantilly Regional Library, Fairfax County, VA
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About the Author

LORETTA OUTWATER COX is an Inupiaq woman, born in Nome, Alaska, and raised in various villages around the Seward Peninsula. She holds a bachelor's degree in education and a master's degree in education administration. Loretta taught school in western Alaska for twenty-three years. She and her husband, Skip, have three children and three grandchildren.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Alaska Northwest Books (September 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0882406078
• ISBN-13: 978-0882406077
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #259,171 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Native Stories and Picture Drawings Warm a Sod House, October 20, 2005

By 

Arctic Voice Earl (Wisconsin) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Storytellers' Club: The Picture-Writing Women of the Arctic (Hardcover)

This is an excellent follow-up to "The Winter Walk," an old survival tale from the Arctic. Here Loretta Outwater Cox sets the scene so perfectly.

In the 1920s in Northwest Alaska, six middle-aged women meet in a sod house to tell stories and draw pictures about characters, animals, camp sites, the land, rivers, lakes, oceans and much more.

Each woman is handed a cup of tea when she arrrives and each has her special place to sit on the floor of the cozy sod home.

The stories have many themes --family, tradition, basic survival and hope. Sometimes, just celebrating life.

Cox also weaves in stories about the six women and their lives, including a grandmother raising her grandson, and worrying about so many changes in the community, and whether he will remain grounded in the culture.

Cox says she learned the stories from her parents, grandparents and relatives, and that she has such admiration for both the stories and those who told and retold them.

Find a cozy, warm place some winter evening, brew a pot of tea, and enjoy the book.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Our Inupiaq Lifestyle documented, May 1, 2006

By 

Joanne M. Nelson "Inupiaq Aana" (Kotzebue, Alaska) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Storytellers' Club: The Picture-Writing Women of the Arctic (Hardcover)

I am so happy Loretta Outwater Cox has begun the journey of documenting a part of our lifestyle. Being Inupiaq and from Ipnatchiaq (Deering), I remember how my grandparents Jack and Ina Tiepelman, would pass on stories and preservation skills, both verbally and through actual participation. Loretta's books both this one and "The Winter Walk" depicts much of how I learned everything I know about my culture and lifestyle. Even into the 1950's, life as these books depicted was very similar, times were hard, we had very little western cultural influence, sure we now had books and knew the english alphabet so we could document information but basically we still lived in a harsh environment with only basic necessities and even though times were hard, it brings back fond memories. I thoroughly recommend these books.