My Wounded Island

by Jacques Pasquet, Marion Arbona (Illustrator), Sophie B. Watson (Translator)

Overview

There's an invisible creature in the waves around Sarichef. It is altering the lives of the Iñupiat people who call the island home. A young girl and her family are forced to move to the center of the island for refuge from the rising sea level. Soon the entire village will have to relocate to the mainland. Heartbroken, the young girl and her grandfather worry: what else will be lost when they are forced to abandon their homes and their community?

Addressing the topic of climate refugees, My Wounded Island is based on the challenges faced by the Iñupiat people who live on the small islands north of the Bering Strait near the Arctic Circle.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781459815650
Publisher:	Orca Book Publishers
Publication date:	08/29/2017
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	9.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.38(d)
Lexile:	NC790L (what's this?)
Age Range:	6 - 8 Years

About the Author

Passionate about memories, Jacques Pasquet is a writer and storyteller. Now that his busy career as a professor is behind him, he splits his time between writing and visiting schools. Jacques is the author of nearly twenty books for children in Québec and France. He lives in Montréal, Québec. For more information, visit www.jacquespasquet.com .

Marion Arbona was born in France. After obtaining her diploma in animation at the École nationale supérieure des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, she moved to Quebec. She devotes her life to illustration, painting and animation. In constant evolution, she explores new techniques such as scratchboard, pastel and transparency, which she combines with her favourite media: gouache, ink and image retouching. For more information, visit www.marionarbona.com

Sophie B. Watson is an award-winning author, translator and editor. Since studying French and English literature at the University of Alberta, Sophie has worked in the book publishing industry as a writer, editor, translator and as a bilingual editor for Les Éditions Duval. Over the years she has worked in educational, literary, trade and academic publishing. As a freelance writer Sophie has had many articles published in Canadian and Irish publications and her novel Cadillac Couches received excellent reviews.

Editorial Reviews

06/12/2017
In pained first-person narration, an Iñupiat girl named Imarvaluk shares her concerns about the force of nature “that is slowly devouring our island.” Working in mixed media, Arbona (The Good Little Book) pictures this unseen threat as a jellyfishlike creature that swoops toward Imarvaluk’s Arctic island, and she uses delicately scratched lines to trace its sweeping tendrils and angry, hungry countenance. Halfway through Pasquet’s story, his young heroine reveals what some readers may have already guessed: the threat facing this Iñupiat island is a manmade one, not supernatural in origin (“The climate is changing, the earth is warming, and this heat gives the creature all of its destructive force”). The care and tenderness with which Imarvaluk describes her home throws the consequences of climate change into stark relief. “What worries Grandfather the most,” she concludes, “is that this creature will make not only our island disappear but also the memories of our people.” A brief glossary, defining both geographical and cultural terms, adds a bit more heft to this environmental conversation starter. Ages 5–8. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

★ "My Wounded Island succeeds because it depicts climate change as a character in its own right—the evil sea monster that is slowly eating away at Sarichef…Arbona's haunting mixed-media illustrations mesh perfectly with the tone of Pasquet's story…It's refreshing that Pasquet does not downplay the situation on Sarichef…This story is raw, melancholic, and completely unforgettable. It is a must for helping children understand the realities of climate change using imagery they can understand."

starred review Quill & Quire

"The topics of the book, climate change and climate refugees, are very timely and significant. My Wounded Island helps put a face on how climate change is impacting people and not just the environment…The narrative is dense and lyrical, and the illustrations are thoroughly engaging."

CM Magazine

"Jacques Pasquet has created a character with whom young readers can identify. In doing so, he successfully cultivates empathy not only for Imarvaluk, but for her people, the Iñupiat, and the terrible predicament in which they find themselves. Marion Arbona's illustrations are both beautiful and haunting…This picture book represents a slice of reality that evades our expectation of a happy ending. But as a story, it is important and timely…it will immediately provoke questions and discussion among young readers—which is satisfying in itself. This book would make an engaging introduction to the subject of climate change and the real consequences it has for communities around the globe. "

Canadian Children's Book News

"The art work, of gouache, ink, pencil and toothbrush, is exquisite in its depiction of contrasts of the daily lives of the Inupiat people…It is a thought-provoking depiction of causes and effects of climate change on a physical environment and the people inhabiting that environment…My Wounded Island could also be incorporated into a study unit on northern indigenous cultures. "

Resource Links

"It's not an uplifting book—nor should it be. There is the issue of where the people of the island will relocate to and who will pay for it…The story also raises another important question—if we humans have set many places on track for destruction, how will we, at the very least, remember them and their inhabitants?"

Montreal Review of Books

"This is a beautiful but sad book told by Imarvaluk who lives on a small island that lies near the Arctic Circle between Alaska and Russia…Illustrations done using gouache, ink, pencil and a toothbrush and done in an Inupiat style create the tragedy simply but effectively."

Youth Services Book Review

"Sure to evoke serious conversation…Ms. Arbona's mixed media illustrations match the tone perfectly."

Sal's Fiction Addiction

Pensive...With splatters, swirls, and other stormy patterns, Arbona's art adeptly visualizes the story's focus.

The Horn Book Online

07/01/2017
Gr 1–3—This somber story introduces the effect of climate change on the Iñupiat, Native people inhabiting Sarichef, a small island near the Arctic Circle. Imarvaluk, a young girl born and raised on the island, describes the sea that is slowly "devouring" the land as having been "bewitched by an evil creature." The small wooden houses need to be moved inland from the coast, as it is increasingly engulfed by water. Hunting for their livelihood, hunters can't use their snowmobiles on the pack ice, as it is no longer strong enough to support them. Outsiders studying these effects have come to the island and explained that warmer temperatures are causing glacial melting and rising water. Residents fear Sarichef may vanish completely under the sea. While some families consider moving to the mainland, Imarvaluk's grandfather worries that if the island disappears, so will the traditions and memories of the Iñupiat people. The mixed-media, full-bleed illustrations use a mostly bright palette, which provides some relief from the serious tone of the tale. Scenes of the encroaching water are particularly powerful. VERDICT Considering that there are few picture books on this subject, this introductory tool fills a gap. Recommended where there is interest or a curricular need.—Sara-Jo Lupo Sites, George F. Johnson Memorial Library, Endicott, NY

School Library Journal

2017-05-15
Imarvaluk fears for the safety of her island home off the coast of Alaska.Imarvaluk's Alaskan Native people, the Inupiat, have lived near the sea since the beginning of memory. Her name in English means "the song of the waves," but though she loves her name, she finds it hard to continue to love the ocean. Her family lives on a small island, Sarichef, so small it would be a tiny speck on any map of the Arctic Circle. The Inupiat people have adopted many modern ways: "We no longer live in igloos," Imarvaluk tells readers, but in wooden houses, and most prefer snowmobiles to their traditional dog sleds. Her grandfather's dogs used to scare Imarvaluk, but now she is more afraid the encroaching sea will soon devour their island home. Outsiders studying the phenomenon have explained how climate change is causing the glaciers to melt and the sea to rise. The villagers are moving many houses, including Imarvaluk's, inland, but they also understand someday they will have to leave their homeland—and their traditional ways—behind. Although it perpetuates the myth that igloos were or are permanent domiciles, Pasquet's moving story does introduce the concept of climate change, and its imminent catastrophic impact on many indigenous communities, to young readers. Arbona's illustrations are by turns lyrical and frightening, truly indicative of the themes of the book. A moving if oversimplified look at a very real threat. (Picture book. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews

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