To My Panik: To My Daughter

In the vein of Guess How Much I Love You, Inuit author Sammurtok writes an emotional question-and-answer story that centers an Inuit mother-daughter relationship. As the book opens with a landscape of spring blooms, a girl asks, “Anaana, do you love me?” and the affirmative response invites a request for further detail. “I love your eyes because the fire inside them is like a warm flame burning in the qulliq. You are a fighter, like a purple saxifrage cutting through autumn’s first snowfall,” Anaana responds. As the two stroll through the seasons, portrayed in unlined artwork by Turgut that emphasizes the natural world, the mother continues to reassure her daughter of her love, comparing the girl to aspects of the tundra where they live, including a mother bear, a clear lake, the fresh air, and an Arctic hare. It’s a soothingly paced read whose metaphors offer ample promise of love across an unending horizon. Includes a brief Inuktut glossary. Ages 3–5. (May)