sweetest kulu written by celina kalluk and illustrated by alexandria neonakis

Kalluk, Celina. Sweetest Kulu, Illustrated by Alexandria Neonakis. Toronto: Inhabit Media Inc., 2014. ISBN: 978127095775

Plot Summary:
    Kulu is a young infant whose introduction into life and nature is told by his mother. Throughout his introduction to life and nature, his mother details how nature's visitors gift him with thoughts, feelings, and qualities that he will use within his lifetime. Some of the gifts and qualities given to young Kulu include: patience, instinct, balance, and tenderness. His mother continues to advise Kulu of the importance of these gifts as he lives with nature to ensure his meaning and sustainability in life.
           

Critical Analysis:
     Sweetest Kulu is a picture book from the USBBY Outstanding International Books list. By being included on this list, this book is known and recognized as an international book. The author, Celina Kalluk was born and raised in Nunavut, and incorporates her personal culture, beliefs, and traditions within this title which further strengthens her insider approach.
     The protagonist of this story, Kulu, is depicted as a sweet young infant who is greeted into the world by spirit animals, animals, and the nature around him. The author, Kalluk, shares her Inuit culture by how she describes how each animal, spirit animal and nature greets baby Kulu. She describes each greeting with a great sense of imagery as she coincides each element with a particular gift and characteristic. For example, Kulu is visited by the Muskox which shared heritage and empowerment in order to display protection. The muskox is an Artic ox known for its strength and protection of its territory and herd. Not only does the author successfully correlate the characteristics of each animal, but she also utilizes a method in which she maintains cultural authenticity as she includes animals that are among this particular country.
     Not only does the author provide her readers with vivid imagery to convey her story, but she also collaborates with illustrator Alexandria Neonakis. Neonakis incorporates beautiful acrylic illustrations which bring to life the words of the story of Kulu. As the author describes "waters so sea green," her readers are met with illustrations that utilize sea green colors that depict the home of the Arctic Char that is being described. The collaboration between the two allow for the story of Kulu to be enjoyed in a literary manner, as well as visually. 

Review Excerpts:

"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." - Publishers Weekly

"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." - School Library Journal 

"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."" - Kirkus Reviews 

Connections:
Customers who bought this book also purchased A Fine Dessert: Four Centuries, Four Families, One Delicious Treat, Viva Frida, and Amazing Grace.

Interactivity:

• Ask children to choose an animal in the wild and correlate a quality they share with that animal.
• Have children inquire and/or research the meaning of their names and ask if they feel as if they encompass those meanings.
• Teach children the importance of valuing and cherishing their land and environment.