Neeluk is a 7 year-old Inupiat Eskimo boy who lives in Wales, Alaska in the early 1900’s when the relationship between whaling ships and Eskimo life was untainted by the Western world. The book takes a yearlong journey in the shadows of Neeluk and follows his everyday interactions with his villagers and family life. This story records how the Inupiat life style was before Western influences were made permanent and illnesses wiped out an entire generation of elders. The pages are dotted with drawings of customary objects and animals as well as gorgeously detailed full page paintings of Neeluk’s life moments. ( )

Kittredge, Frances. Neeluk: An Eskimo Boy in the Days of the Whaling Ships. Illus. by Howard “Weyahok” Rock. Portland, OR: Alaska Northwest Books. 2001. 87 pp. Upper Primary.

Neeluk is an Inupiat boy in the 1880s “in the days of whaling.” Traces of the life of Neeluk and his family through one year in the Arctic in Alaska before it became a state. Realistic oil paintings illustrate the daily tasks and environment of the Arctic around the story’s events, in addition to some mixed media that aid in visualizing the story. Each chapter represents a month, and corresponds to traditional subsistence activities. Told in third person, the story informs the reader and while the events might have emotional meaning, the tone is distant.

AK Context: Before Alaska was brought a great deal of Western technology and people, there was still a strong grasp on traditional Alaska native cultures. The information and perspective is also from a historical perspective, even though there is an over 30 year difference from the story’s date and when Kittredge came to Alaska. I liked it and I think a good amount for information came out of it, even though the dialogue and reasoning comes across as somewhat Western.

Activity: We could construct a year around subsistence activities chart from the book, but also from what we come across with further research. As a class or in small groups, we could create a year round cycle of activities like a circle of life.