Bedtime Stories highlights Children’s Books with a diverse, global perspective.
In very early times, there was no night or day and words spoken by chance could become real. When a hare and a fox meet and express their longing for light and darkness, their words are too powerful to be denied.
The Origin of Day and Night, published in September of 2018 by Inhabit Books, is the illustrated retelling of an ancient Inuit tale, passed from storyteller to storyteller and into the loving hands of Inuit author, Paula Ikuutaq Rumbolt. Her sparse, but lyric words are paired perfectly with the contrasting illustrations of artist Lenny Lishchenko, to create a beautiful story book that serves as an excellent introduction to Inuit mythology to non-Inuit children, and with an Inuktitut language version, gives great representation to Inuit children themselves.
The Origin of Day and Night is, well, an origin story. Our two protagonists, Tiri, the Arctic Fox, and Ukaliq, the Arctic Hare, are basically fighting over whether darkness or light gets to reign over the world. Tiri prefers the night time, because their night vision gives them a better chance to hunt unseen, while Ukaliq prefers the day because that’s when they can find their food. As the two trade off speaking their will into existence (and teach Inuktitut words in the process), the world goes a bit awry, though considering that in the far north, night and day don’t work on the same clock that we’re used to closer to the equator, this actually makes sense. Through the argument of Tiri and Ukaliq, the black and white illustrations swirl across the pages, adding a great deal of visual interest while our protagonists try to sort things out.
The Origin of Day and Night shows children how to find compromise between two seemingly irreconcilable positions, while also presenting a piece of the rich mythology of the Inuit and the beauty of the Inuktitut language. Suitable for children ages 4-9.
