Beautiful simple Inuit tale, perfect for any age. Gorgeous illustrations with arctic animals. I especially loved the boat full of all the animals.

Cute little mythology book. Hope there will be more stories about the Inuit. Thank you for sending me this e-ARC.

Magic Words From the Ancient Oral Tradition of the Inuit by Edward Field is a unique offering from Vanita Books. Beautifully illustrated by Mike Blanc, this slim book brings an ancient indigenous creation story to a modern audience through poetic translation. Vanita Books is dedicated to offering unique educational books that engage young readers with other cultures, and 100 percent of the proceeds of their sales go to the charities, such as the Oak Clinic which helps those living with multiple sclerosis.

Magic Words is nationally renowned poet Edward Field’s translation of an ancient Inuit creation story. Originally recorded by Danish explorer Knud Rasmussen in 1921, this story remained in the Harvard Library untouched until Field translated it into English in 1965.

The mixture of Field’s dynamic translation and Mike Blanc’s stunning illustrations helps the reader immerse themselves within this story of creation. Magic Words depicts a time when humans and animals were all one and the same, learning and growing from one another. Blanc’s illustrations capture this dynamic relationship well, bringing home to the reader the interconnectedness of all things that so characterizes Inuit belief.

This stunning book of poetry does justice to the sacred story. While a slim book, the reverent translation and illustration both help transport the reader into a dream state where the real and imagined mingle.
Magic Words From the Ancient Oral Tradition of the Inuit by Edward Field is a unique offering from Vanita Books. Beautifully illustrated by Mike Blanc, this slim book brings an ancient indigenous creation story to a modern audience through poetic translation. Vanita Books is dedicated to offering unique educational books that engage young readers with other cultures, and 100 percent of the proceeds of their sales go to the charities, such as the Oak Clinic which helps those living with multiple sclerosis.

Magic Words is nationally renowned poet Edward Field’s translation of an ancient Inuit creation story. Originally recorded by Danish explorer Knud Rasmussen in 1921, this story remained in the Harvard Library untouched until Field translated it into English in 1965.

The mixture of Field’s dynamic translation and Mike Blanc’s stunning illustrations helps the reader immerse themselves within this story of creation. Magic Words depicts a time when humans and animals were all one and the same, learning and growing from one another. Blanc’s illustrations capture this dynamic relationship well, bringing home to the reader the interconnectedness of all things that so characterizes Inuit belief.

This stunning book of poetry does justice to the sacred story. While a slim book, the reverent translation and illustration both help transport the reader into a dream state where the real and imagined mingle.

The illustrations in Magic Words are absolutely gorgeous. The poem was a bit short, but lovely nonetheless. I didn't want it to end, because I wanted more pictures! A great addition to any bookshelf or young classroom.

Thank you Vanita Books and NetGalley for this ARC!

I loved this. Beautiful translation of an old Inuit poem complemented by evocative illustrations. It was shorter than I anticipated but I appreciated the message, a reflection of stories I had heard in my own culture, as a demonstration of how we we may seem different in our many cultures and languages but are similar in many more ways. And even beyond that, how much we are all a part of nature rather than apart. Would love a copy of this on my shelf!

LOVED, LOVED, LOVED this one! Although it is a very short book, it features the most beautiful drawings made in traditional Inuit style, and the text is just enough to spark a follow-up conversation with the child regarding other cultures, traditions, and history.
There really should be way more books like this one!

First of all, the illustrations are amazing. I loved the use of color and traditional Inuit patterns and colors. What makes this book unique, however, is that it is a short poem from the 1920s. An explorer wrote this in a journal and it was later illustrated and translated. This story is a very simplistic creation story of the Inuit, but it captures the beautiful relationship that the Inuit people have with animals and nature. I would love to share this story with my classroom, especially since we briefly study the Inuit people in social studies. This would be perfect!

This book was cute, I think the representation of other cultures in our westernized world is very important, and I thought the art style really helped. While I enjoyed it, I thought it was really short, and would've liked it to be longer, maybe a little more informative.

Why this book was written is my first Question?
Second, What kind of Inuit culture was reflected with it, as it was written in their marketing plan for Parents and Children to read it together to understand the Inuit culture?

Either there should be some content as in the form of a story even if it has been yet a mythology or there shouldn't be any book at first place. Inuits are much more than just from these made-up stories. Waste of time.

Only thing that amazed me is Artict Mike Blanc. He had done a marvellous job. Amazing color combinations and what an art! 2-Star for his work only.

Thank you NetGalley and Vanita Books for accepting my request to read and review Magic Words.

Author: Edward Field
Published: 09/01/13
Genre: Children's Fiction

This is a miss for me. I have the E-book and following the title page, etc., the first page pops up and I backed away. Really it was fish, large and scaly. The author attempted to translate an old tribal poem. Between the illustrations and the words, I didn't see a poem or a reason for the work. I feel like there is a loss in translation.

Despite being a book about words this book is all about the illustrations. The art in this book is striking, beyond gorgeous. Through this book one will understand the power of words. A great addition to any book collection.

Magic words, according to the authors note from Edward Field on the back of the book, is a traditional Inuit poem. Originally published in the 1960s, this is a new edition created with illustrator Mike Blanc.

This is a very beautiful book. The illustration style and care to details is quite impressive, and I love the bright colours. There are a variety of Arctic animals depicted, and it would be interesting to learn if the illustrations depict specific stories or not.

The poem itself is fairly short, with a line or two per page. It’s translated in more of a free-form poetry, rather than a rhyming style. It was decent, but it would have been nice if there was a transliteration to compare. I know most of the Indigenous books our system orders often include the original text alongside the translation as well. It was a little odd to see it missing here. Content-wise, the poem was interesting. You don’t get a lot of detail about specific folklore or stories, but it mentions how many were transformation tales, and the belief in how language could influence the world around them.

Which brings me to one of the major issues with the book, which I know would make it unlikely to be purchased by our system. While the contributors’ work is admirable, neither of them is a member of the culture depicted in this work. This is one of the criteria that is used in our system to select - or deselect (weed) - books from our systems’ library collections when it comes to the Indigenous collections, especially. They could have hired someone to be a cultural advisor, to comment on the translation and maybe add detail to any specific stories depicted, for instance, which would have worked. Or to include the original text, as I mentioned before. I’d imagine this may effect their sales in Canada, though I’m not sure if it will matter in the U.S. as much.

Overall, it’s quite pretty but a bit lacking in content.

I received the opportunity to read this book through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

First and foremost, I would love to thank NetGalley, the author, and publishers for allowing me the opportunity to read this advanced copy. Such a great adventure!. Recommended

This illustrated book for children, called Magic Words, is based on a poem from the ancient oral tradition of the Inuit. The poem is a lovely piece about the strong links between humans and animals, as well as the magical power of words. The visuals are rather interesting; the graphic lines create a very special atmosphere that reminded me of aboriginal paintings. It really does capture the essence of indigenous spiritual beliefs.

An interesting and poetic book about the Inuit people, a topic rarely found in children’s literature.

I’d give this three stars for the story and five stars for the illustrations.

The story seemed almost like an introduction rather than a whole book, and while I appreciate that it’s based on a folk tale, I wish there were more to it. I had to check my book to make sure there weren’t pages missing, because it felt like we got a chapter instead of a whole book. What was there was fabulous, whimsical, and imaginative! I just needed more, and I feel like kids would have a lot of questions since there is no plot in what’s there.

The illustrations were amazingly vivid, beautiful, and imaginative! This book is a work of visual art for sure.

I’d be interested in seeing other books in this series if they’re ever written, maybe doing a compendium of Inuit folk tales or a blending of a few.

Thanks to Netgalley for this advanced readers copy!

The more I look at the images to more enthralled I was by the words. The hope for me is that more inclusive we are with are in-class or in home story telling, the more inclusive are children will be in the real world. Learning about other cultures is a wonderful gift reading gives us and being able to share the world through books is a gift.

I love the artwork in this! The longer you look the more you see <3
I wanted it to be so much longer, I double-checked when it seemingly abruptly ended, thinking it must just be the first of a few parts. It was not. But I did enjoy the artwork in this one a lot.

Wow! This book was short but a really neat Inuit Creation story with gorgeous illustrations. We learn about Inuit culture in Grade 2, and I would love to use this book with my students. I would recommend this to colleagues as well. I think students would like the illustrations and the idea of wordsmith creating with magic.

Thanks to NetGalley and Edward Field for the download! I chose to review this book and these opinions are my own.

I absolutely LOVED the pictures in this book! They were so colorful and I just wanted to keep looking at them. The story was very unique. I enjoyed this book.

Breathtaking colours and imagery. I am fascinated by Inuit Cosmology. I wish there was more of this.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an eARC. All opinions are my own.