Tuk and the Whale (Hardcover)

~ Raquel Rivera (Author), Mary Jane Gerber (Illustrator) "GRANDFATHER suddenly stopped working..." (more)
Key Phrases: great black whale, great boat

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 3–5—Set in the 1600s in the early days of Arctic whaling, this short chapter book imagines the first encounter between whalers and the native Inuit people. Black-and-white illustrations, two per chapter, show the action at a distance and help readers visualize the vast and flat terrain. Tuk first sees the whaling ship come over the horizon and, when it arrives, he is smitten, especially when the whalers give him a wonderful knife. While some of the men caution against participating, Tuk and his father, plus a few others, climb into the whalers' boat to hunt for Arvik, as the Inuit call the bowhead whale. If the hunt is successful, the Inuit families will have what they need to survive. Not so the whalers, who need to fill their ship's hold. The story captures well the tentative and taut encounter, the danger, and the event that culminates in Tuk's saving the entire party. But while some textual clues help, readers may have to flip to the glossary to remember what maktaaq, Qallunaaq, or Quilliit are. Like Jane Yolen's Encounter (Harcourt, 1992), this story foreshadows troubles to come, ending with Grandfather's warning that "you can learn a great deal from those men, both good and bad," and a warning about coveting things, but Tuk happily cradles his new knife and looks to the future.—Susan Hepler, formerly at Burgundy Farm Country Day School, Alexandria, VA
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Review

"Through the eyes and voice of Tuk, a young Inuit boy, readers see, hear and feel the excitement and apprehension that the lost whalers' arrival engenders. . . [a] simple, elegant, eloquent tale. . . Mary Jane Gerber's delightful pen-and-ink drawings capture moments large and small." -- Globe and Mail

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9-12
  
• Hardcover: 96 pages
• Publisher: Groundwood Books (April 28, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0888996896
• ISBN-13: 978-0888996893
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,611,942 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Nicely researched portrayal of the Inuit culture , January 1, 2009

By	The Well-Read Child "http://wellreadchild.blo... - See all my reviews

It's the early 1600s, and Tuk, a young Inuit boy sees a giant ship approaching his group's winter camp on the Baffin Islands. It's a ship of European whalers who've been blown off course. These "Qallunnaat" (foreigners) are malnourished and exhausted, and they appeal to the islanders for their help catching "Arvik," a breed of a gigantic and elusive black whale. There is distrust and uncertainty on both sides, as is evidenced by Tuk's thoughts early on in the book:

"Strangers couldn't be trusted. They weren't related by blood, or by marriage. They didn't bring news of friends and family in other camps. They could take things, break things--even hurt people. It was easy for strangers to do bad things to people because they didn't know anyone. And they could always just leave again." (p. 16)


Nevertheless, realizing that the whale could feed their people for months, the people of the camp agree to help out. What follows is an account of an exciting hunt for the great Arvik.

Tuk and the Whale is a story that provides a glimpse into what life was like for the Inuit people very early on in the whaling industry. We see the importance of whales to both the European whalers and the Inuits, though both are very different. Throughout the story, readers are introduced to a number of Inuit words, and a short glossary in the back of the book defines each one.

It's obvious that Ms. Rivera conducted thorough research to write this book, and she did an exceptional job of seamlessly weaving details of her research into a story that reveals the importance of family, teamwork, and tradition. I appreciate the fact that Ms. Rivera does not neatly tie the book up in a pretty little bow. Instead, it foreshadows the serious troubles that befell the native peoples in the boom of the whaling industry.

Young readers will enjoy reading this book, and it would make an excellent introduction to a unit on the whaling industry and the Inuit culture.