Sweetest Kulu

December 22, 2014
Debut author Kalluk presents a series of warm affirmations for a newborn (the name "Kulu" is an Inuktitut term of endearment). Neonakis's artwork, while indebted in some places to conventional animation (the baby's button nose and rosebud mouth have a distinctly Disney feel), offers a genuinely folklike sensibility and strong, dynamic compositions. "Sweetest Kulu," Kalluk begins, "on the day you were born, all of the Arctic Summer was there to greet you." Neonakis paints baby Kulu (whose gender is indeterminate) nestled against its mother, whose long brown hair swirls around the baby like waves in the ocean. One by one, several Arctic animals offer Kulu their virtues: "Arctic Hare, with rock willow and roots,/ came to show you love so easily./ You became a best friend, baby Kulu, loving to give." Set in the world of the first peoples of the Arctic, the book hints at the idea of treating the Earth, its plants, and animals as a single living entity and suggests that a family's wishes for its children gain power from being spoken out loud. Up to age 3.

January 1, 2015

PreS-Just when you thought your library didn't need another picture book about parental love, Kalluk and Neonakis have created this far North fantasy that combines awe and coziness in equal measure. Nestled in a warm snowsuit, baby Kulu (an Inuktitut endearment) receives gifts from a parade of magnificent Arctic well-wishers, including Caribou, Snow Bunting, Narwhal, Land, Sun, and Wind. The poetic text reads like a blessing for a new child, pointing out the splendors of the natural world while also invoking character traits that parents wish to inculcate in their children, such as patience and generosity. The pictures mix the warmth and sweetness of mid-century illustrators such as Mary Blair with an animation-style eye for the dramatic: Neonakis zooms in close, as when Artic Hare's cuddly body fills a spread, and pans out wide to show rugged mountain peaks and tundra vegetation. The length and sophisticated vocabulary of the text may overwhelm the youngest listeners, but nonetheless the book's tender rhythms and endearing images immerse readers in an experience of beauty and connection among living things.-Sarah Stone, San Francisco Public Library

Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 15, 2014
A newborn child is welcomed by the sun, the wind, the Arctic land and all its animal inhabitants, who bring gifts of love and self-respect.This sweet bedtime poem, in the tradition of Debra Frasier's On the Day You Were Born (1991), is filled with the animals of the far north and the values of the author's Inuit culture. Believe in yourself. Be generous and helpful, modest and kind, creative and spontaneous, patient and never lazy. "[G]et out of bed as soon as you wake." Look to the stars. Lead gently. Neonakis' illustrations use the colors of that northern world splendidly, especially the blues and greens of the water echoed by the baby's green footie sleeper with its fur-trimmed hood. Her animals-from snow buntings and musk oxen to Arctic char and beluga whales-are stylized but recognizable, and the baby is charming. The text, a series of stanzas spoken or sung by a mother to her child, is written in sentences that are lengthy for a poem or song, but the sections are patterned in a way that is soothing and predictable, and each includes an affirmation: "happy Kulu," "magnificent Kulu," "cutest Kulu," "beloved Kulu." "Kulu" is an Inuktitut term of endearment, but this appreciation for the baby and the baby's world would make a lovely gift for any new parent. (Picture book. 0-5)

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