Friday, August 15, 2014

Saila is a pretty good ambassador...

The Maplelea dolls all come with a journal that contains information about their life  - things like their birthday, where they were born, their family, what they like to do for fun...  And then the outfits come with pages to be added to the journal, which is a pretty sturdy little binder.  All of the dolls and outfits come with the pages in both French and English; Saila and her outfits also include the pages in Inuktitut.

Five-Year-Old and I read Saila's journal yesterday evening (sample from Maplelea here), and quite enjoyed it.  She's looking forward to filling in the empty pages with her own information next week as well.

The information provided was at a good level to provide a very general overview of how people live in Iqaluit, where Saila lives.  Nieceling really enjoyed that Saila's family and friends all had names, and the little details like the jobs they work and the games they play.  She was very pleased that children there also play tag, though it is called "Not-It" there.

From the perspective of an adult reading it, I also enjoyed it.  I loved the level of detail, and the glossary at the end.  Nunavut is an area I really don't know much about, which is one of the reasons Saila appealed to me.  I love that it gave us a lot of "jumping off points" as well.  Nieceling asked about Narwhals (she enjoys the Narwhal in "Whale Gets Stuck" too), so we looked it up, and later she asked about why Saila's house was built on stilts above the ground....so I'd say it did a pretty good job at encouraging her natural curiosity. :)

It does touch very gently and briefly on the Residential Schools...Saila's grandmother went to one, and so learned many of the traditional Inuit skills as an adult.  At Nieceling's age, the full details would probably give her nightmares, so that is enough.  But I thought it was good that it was at least mentioned.

A good online starting place for information is the Nunavut Tourism site.  There's all sorts of interesting information there... it sounds like it would be a really cool place to visit someday.


2 comments:

  1. I'm sure I said this before, but your neice is so lucky to have you as an aunty, you really make time for her and she learns such a lot!! :) Well done you!!
    Hugs Sharon in Spain xx

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    1. That's very kind of you to say! :) She and the nephews are so much fun to spend time with!

      We try to give them opportunities to learn about things, and not push the issue - follow up if they are interested, and don't if they are not. Our current school system seems to be kind of hard on a kid's enthusiasm. Left to their own devices, small children seem to pretty much want to know everything about everything! LOL

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