The Winter Walk: A Century-Old Survival Story from the Arctic

by Loretta Outwater Cox

Overview

Alaska Native Literature Award Winner

The tragic yet triumphant story of a young mother's winter journey to the Bering Sea coast with her two young children. This powerful narrative will haunt readers.

Advanced in pregnancy and now newly widowed, Qutuuq sets out with her two children, leaving their camp and following a frozen river to the coast. Homebound, one step at a time, through the subzero wilderness.

This is a chilling, true story dating from 1892. It tells of battles against killing cold, starvation, and exhaustion. It's the story of a haunting decision made in the throes of desperation. And ultimately it's a story of survival and triumph amid unspeakable sorrow.

More than a century later, Qutuuq's story, which has descended through her Inupiat Eskimo family as oral history, is retold in print by her great-granddaughter.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780882405742
Publisher:	TURNER PUB CO
Publication date:	08/01/2004
Edition description:	Discussion questions inside
Pages:	224
Sales rank:	662,652
Product dimensions:	5.08(w) x 7.18(h) x 0.61(d)
Lexile:	910L (what's this?)
Age Range:	12 Years

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.

Editorial Reviews

"The Winter Walk is a survival story set in 1892 near the Norton Sound. Qutuuq, an Inupiaq mother, guides her two children to safety after her husband dies at winter camp. The author’s mother Keenaq (Ruth Savok Outwater) told Loretta the story, in spite its darkness, and urged her to write about it. The book is published as an adult memoir; however, it would be appropriate for high school students because of its wealth of information about Inupiaq ways... Beautifully told."

Alaska Native Knowledge Network

Well written ... a tragic yet triumphant story.

From the Publisher