Darrell Greer
Northern News Services

RANKIN INLET (May 05/99) - People across Canada will soon be learning about Inuit culture by reading a book created and written in Whale Cove, thanks to the dedicated effort of a team of students and staff from Inuglak school.

The book, The Lonely Inukshuk, was awarded top honours by a panel of judges, including famous children's author Robert Munch, in the National Scholastic Create A Book Contest and will now be distributed nationally.

The book centres on a lonely inukshuk who wonders why he was left all alone out on the land. The inukshuk decides to ask all the passing Arctic animals to explain it to him, but they are all much too busy with their owns tasks of survival to take the time.

Finally, one day, a father and his son happen along. The father is explaining all about the land, the animals and how to read inukshuks to his son. The inukshuk overhears the conversation and finally understands the reason for his existence.

Inuglak school's Sue Callard co-ordinated the project and initiated students' writing. Ken Jacobi documented the process electronically and provided the desk top publishing, while Michael Momcombreaux helped develop story boards for students to base their drawings on and helped with the layout. A total of 16 students from grades 4-7 worked on the book.

Callard said it took about a month for teachers to plan the project and, once started with the students, it took about 10 weeks of solid work almost every day after school and on weekends for the book to be finished by the contest's deadline.

"Everything went really smoothly," said Callard. "We had a lot of support from our principal, Caroline Thompson. She actually released us from our classes for about three days right near the end so we were able to work with the students full days to get the project completed, and that was great."

Being the smallest school in the Keewatin Region, Callard said it means a lot to Inuglak school students to have their efforts recognized. She said the award proves what Whale Cove students are capable of when they really put their minds to something.

"The size of their school doesn't matter. It's the effort and dedication that went into the book that really makes it special. Now they've got this professionally published book that's going to be distributed all over Canada and, in a sense, it's going to put Whale Cove on the map.

"Someone may pick up the book and want to know exactly where Whale Cove is, so they may go to their Atlas and make an effort to really see where Whale Cove is and take a second look at Nunavut."