The Girl Who Dreamed Only Geese: And Other Tales of the Far North

by Howard Norman, Leo & Diane Dillon (Illustrator)

Based on decades of research and extended collaboration with Inuit storytellers, award-winning author Howard Norman’s masterful retellings of ten Inuit tales invite readers on a unique story--journey from Siberia and Alaska to the Canadian Arctic and Greenland. Dramatic illustrations inspired by stonecut art of the Inuit people capture the beauty and mystery of these stories as they carry us--sometimes laughing, sometimes crying--from village to village over taiga, tundra, snow plains, and the iceberg-filled sea.

Genres: Childrens, Fiction, Picture Books, Folk Tales, Fairy Tales

164 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1997

About the author

Howard A. Norman (born 1949), is an American award-winning writer and educator. Most of his short stories and novels are set in Canada's Maritime Provinces. He has written several translations of Algonquin, Cree, Eskimo, and Inuit folklore. His books have been translated into 12 languages.

Reviews

[Brandon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book to my six-year-old grandson, and the illustrations by Leo & Diane Dillon amazed us. Pages became a river, and we were caught up in how the surface of each one rippled or splashed in the current of reading. Each story begins with a banner of black & white sketches across the top of the page, dramatizing the salient action of plot; then, in the middle of the story, a full-color painting will burst out on the right-facing page.

The layout compliments Hoard Norman’s retellings. The marvelous introduction establishes the first telling of these tales gathered usually in kitchens, first in Churchill, Manitoba. The storyteller’s frame in the introduction seems established to put the reader—like a grandfather—on notice how far these stories have come from firesides in The Arctic Circle . Besides the initial tales of the Canadian Arctic, there are stories from Greenland, Siberia and Alaska.

The harsh but magic cold fills the distance between people, so if a strange man is rude, walruses will be close by to discipline. A gull might grow weary of her own kind, and put on a human disguise. Never is hunger too far from center of the story, which might be why Norman heard many of these stories “in the kitchen.” In “Noah Hunts a Wooly Mammoth,” for example, the apocryphal tale should caution contemporary culture about how extinction has always been a thing people have been cautioned about.

Some of these stories will remind us of fairytales we’ve already heard, but rarely is there a “head man,” and never is there a princess. As with the title story, a girl is special because of the special thing she does.

We did laugh out loud at many places in these stories, but in the short distances between the laughs, there was tenuous survival, deep drops into longing and mourning. A lot of humanity bundled into these tales.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd give these stories 5/5 except that they're rather dark for children, in the same vein as the more macabre Brothers Grimm tales. I'm not opposed to reading these to children (though the vulgar name calling and insults in one tale could stand to be toned down), but readers should be aware that some details may disturb sensitive children. Lots of descriptions of people eating entrails, eyeballs, brains, etc, eating animals alive, stomach-churning descriptions of smells...

Well worth reading for the culture alone, and to compare the plots to similar tales compiled by the Grimms, Hans Christian Andersen, etc.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good book. It's rather sophisticated for children in my opinion. This is one for folk lore aficionados. The stories are retold very well and one gets a genuine sense of cultural symbols, sense of seasons, magic, cultural sense of self, man's relationship to climate and animals. I would recommend this book highly but only to those who are interested in such things. These retellings have a very genuine flavor. They are punctuated by Leo and Diane Dillon illustrations that are fabulous and that really capture the cold and the threatening elements in many of the stories--including one in particular that is an amazing art deco version of the Northern Lights.

[Jerelyn]

Read this as a pretty little kid, just re-read it. Was *obsessed* with these tales, and others, growing up. One of my earliest memories being unbelievably fascinated by people’s stories who were so different than me...

[Paul O'farrell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully written, as all Howard Norman's books are. These are enchanting but visceral tales of the far north. Its facinating how these tales reveal so many important details of life in the region, its stresses, challenges and pleasures. Glorious

[Doria · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best and most beautifully and effectively illustrated collections of traditional tales I’ve ever read. Wonderfully retold and carefully researched, with introduction and endnotes giving proper attributions to the native tellers who generously shared these stories with folklore collectors, respectful of cultural context, this book sets a very high bar. It is a work of art, both for literary content and illustrations, and also something much more: it offers a glimpse into a culture and life-ways that may seem at first distant and unfamiliar, but that reveal a myriad of very relatable human challenges and relational bonds.

Reading this book arouses empathy, curiosity and sheer delight. I was tempted to read it cover to cover, but extended the experience by reading one tale each day - what a gift was that fortnight!

[Helen Pugsley · Rating 4 out of 5]

At first I was concerned about the ethics in the way these stories were collected. Were the people even seeing the royalties or was it just Some Guy exploiting his friends?
Reading the crediting materials, and forwards I see that everyone who worked on this book put great amounts of effort into it! Sometimes Norman was listening to tapes, sometimes reading letters, sometimes sitting in a kitchen. Either way, he was doing the work of the Grimm Brothers.
The illustrations in this were beautiful! Sometimes I had to change my thinking to understand them but that actually made it kind of fun!
At first this book was hard to get into, but then I got into it and looked forward to my daily stories.
Bonus point: this book was published in the 90's and the only place it uses the e-word is in a proper noun "Eskimo Point" which is a place. Otherwise it's Inuit.

[Sally · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tales from versions told by several Inuit storytellers whose biographies are given briefly.

[Meredith · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a collection of ten Inuit folktales from arctic Canada, Alaska, Greenland, and Siberia.

The traditional stories retold in this book are:
* The Day Puffins Netted Hid-Well
* Noah Hunts a Woolly Mammoth
* Why the Rude Visitor Was Flung by Walrus
* Uteritsoq and the Duckbill Dolls
* The Wolverine's Secret
* The Girl Who Watched in the Nighttime
* The Man Who Married a Seagull
* Home Among the Giants
* How the Narwhal Got Its Tusk
* The Girl Who Dreamed Only Geese

The Story Notes section gives the source for each story as well as the names of the storytellers who told them and folklorists who collected them. Cultural and geographic details are included as are notes on variations.

Leo & Diane Dillon illustrate the stories both with black-and-white friezes and color paintings.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice anthology of ten folk tales from the North. The author includes a pages of story notes at the end of the book (which offers history of the tales). When I fist picked up the book I assumed the tales were all Inuit folklore but the stories come from Siberia, Alaska the Arctic, Canada and Greenland. The tales are longer but the illustrations nicely break things up. You couldn't use any of these for story time but the writing is approachable, although a little dry at times. I would recommend this book to children who have a serious interest in folk tales.

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully illustrated book of folklore by one of my favorite authors? Yes, please.

This book is exactly what I thought it would be when I stumbled upon it: wonderful, evocative stories from the Far North with gorgeous illustrations that make it that more fun to read.

Highly recommended for anyone with an interest in folklore or oral storytelling.

[Krista the Krazy Kataloguer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Inuit tales, well told.

[Laura Beasley · Rating 4 out of 5]

My fav is The Man who Married a Seagull.