On the Shoulder of a Giant

This pan-Arctic Inuit legend, which tells the story of a friendly giant, is lightheartedly retold, featuring sweeping illustrations.

Inukpak was big, even for a giant. He loved to walk across the tundra, striding over the widest rivers and wading through the deepest lakes. He could walk across the Arctic in just a few days.

But being so big, and travelling so far, Inukpak was often alone. Until one day when he came across a little hunter on the tundra. Thinking that the hunter was a little boy alone on the land, Inukpak decided to adopt him. And so, from the shoulder of one of the biggest giants to ever roam the Arctic, this hunter experiences the world from Inukpak's perspective.

Neil Christopher is an educator, author, and filmmaker. He first moved to the North in 1997 to help start a high school program in Resolute Bay, Nunavut. It was those students who first introduced Neil to the mythical inhabitants from traditional Inuit stories. The time spent in Resolute Bay changed the course of Neil’s life. Since that first experience in the Arctic, Nunavut has been the only place he has been able to call home. Neil has worked with many community members to record and preserve traditional Inuit stories. Together with his colleague, Louise Flaherty, and his brother, Danny Christopher, Neil started a small publishing company in Nunavut called Inhabit Media Inc. The company has since been working to promote Northern stories and authors.

Jim Nelson is a freelance artist based in Chicago, Illinois. He has a lifelong interest in myths, legends, and the fantastic.