ABSTRACT
Inuit children’s book author, Michael Arvaarluk Kusugak evokes and challenges prominent motifs of mainstream literature about the Canadian Arctic in his texts A Promise Is a Promise (1988) (co-written by Robert Munsch) and Hide and Sneak (1992). Both texts change the familiar model of a travelling protagonist of European descent, a frightening journey, and a triumphant return from the Arctic by instead featuring a young travelling female Inuit protagonist whose conflicts and resolutions are particular to Inuit intellectual history and lived experiences. This chapter explores how the emphasis on parental advice, contrasting belief systems, authorial self-reflexivity, and the power of creativity in these texts critiques harmful legacies of colonialism and reaffirms the value, complexity and endurance of Inuit cultures in Canada.
