FernFolio

Set in the late 1950s in the community of Repulse Bay, Arctic Stories recounts three tales about Agatha, a young Inuit girl who lives on the cusp of change in the North.  While her parents have lived a largely traditional Inuit lifestyle, Agatha experiences the changes that creeping governmental oversight bring.
In Agatha and the Ugly Black Thing, a large black blimp comes to Repulse Bay in the summer of 1958, terrifying the local residents who have no idea what it is.  They are afraid, and made more so by an old man who says he has heard of black flying things that drop exploding things.  The residents run away, trying to escape it, but Agatha, finally tired of running, turns around and yells at the thing to go away.  When it does just that, the residents cheer.
In the last story, Agatha Goes to School, Agatha and two boys from Repulse Bay go by plane to Chesterfield Inlet to attend residential school. In Chesterfield Inlet, they find a community far bigger than their own, with an RCMP detachment, a hospital, a school and a Catholic mission.  The children are not well treated by the nuns and priests, and cry for their parents, but find some pleasure in skiing, sledding and skating.  When one of the priest falls through the ice,  Agatha and her friends must use what they have to hand to rescue him.
Michael Kusugak’s Arctic Stories celebrates the beauty of the Arctic and the steadfast spirit of the Inuit in the midst of the profound changes brought about by increasing contact with the south.
To hear Michael Kusugak talk about storytelling, Inuit heroes, the Inuit language, Inuit elders and reviving stories, go to Canada’s Digital Collections.
FernFolio Editor