The Caterpillar Woman by N. Sammurtok
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.20361/G2MH4XAbstract
Sammurtok, Nadia. The Caterpillar Woman. Inhabit Media, 2016
In The Caterpillar Woman, Nadia Sammurtok tells a traditional Inuit version of “the princess and the frog” story. A kind young woman, Piujuq, trades coats with a woman who is cold. When she puts on the other woman’s coat she turns into a caterpillar. She lives alone because she thinks that no one will want to be around her until an older hunter sees past her strange exterior and marries her. Through the magic of an ancient drum beater, they are “rewarded for their kindness and unconditional love” and become young, strong and beautiful again.
The language is too difficult for a picture book, so an older person would need to read this to small children. While the cover design is strangely uninviting and sad, not making the reader want to pick up the book, the rest of the illustration is well done. The pictures convey creepiness where appropriate, such as the darkness of the inside of a tent at night and many sweeping tundra landscapes.
In the same way that this book’s cover is not a good representation of its content, the main health message in this book is “don’t judge a book by its cover” or learn to look past superficial physical differences to see the person, their character, and their abilities. The secondary message is that we should be kind to people, no matter what their appearance. These are good lessons for young children to learn. I highly recommend this book for as a starting place for classroom discussions on physical differences.
Highly Recommended: 4 stars out of 4
Reviewer: Sean Borle
Sean Borle is a University of Alberta undergraduate student who is an advocate for child health and safety.
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