Before Reading
Introducing the Book
Hand out the books and have children read the title and scan the illustrations to make an initial prediction about the setting and the plot.
Ask: What do you think this story is about? Do you recognize the animals in the illustrations? What do the illustrations tell you about the setting? Can you tell where and when this story might be happening? Why do you think the author called this story Caribou Man?
Build Background
Discuss the animals that may be unfamiliar to children.
Ask: Who knows what a ptarmigan is? (A game bird that is a type of grouse related to a pheasant.) What you think ptarmigans eat? What animals do you think might prey on ptarmigans? What is a caribou? What other animals are caribou related to? What do caribou eat? What animals might hunt and kill caribou for food?
Discuss with children how some native peoples may have world views different from the world view of their own culture. In the stories of many of the world’s aboriginal peoples (the original occupants of a given land), animals are treated as though they are human. For example, among the Eskimo, an original story would refer to the animals as people (the rabbit people, the seal people, the caribou people). One possible explanation is the belief that non-human animals have spirits, as humans do; therefore, they are our brothers and sisters.
Animal groups are sometimes referred to as clans, as in the bear clan. Among many native peoples, including the Eskimo, human beings had animal ancestors. The name of a given tribe or clan often makes reference to this animal ancestor. For this reason, the animals themselves are referred to as people, honoring them as ancestors.
Finally, an aboriginal people who still believe in their mythology are living in a world where magic is a powerful force. Men, particularly shamans, are capable of becoming animals. Likewise, animals with powerful spirits, like Coyote in the western United States, are capable of taking on human form.
Because most of the myths and stories we have from aboriginal peoples were recorded during the period when they were losing their ancestral lands, these stories remain mostly intact. There are few native peoples left on Earth at this point who have not had their traditions and mythologies corrupted by Western civilization. We are fortunate to have collections of myths that give us insight into the ways these people once lived.
Book Walk
Ask children to read page 3 to find out where and when the story is set.
Say and ask: Now that you know the setting of the story, does it cause you to alter your initial predictions? If so, in what ways?
Read the second sentence on page 4 to the children. The traps were almost always empty, and the hunting was meager. Ask children what meager means.
Ask: Who can use the word meager in another sentence?
Have children read the next sentence. Ongharouk tried to furnish meat to feed his family, but the winter was long and he grew weary.
Ask: What does furnish mean in this sentence? Does it have the same meaning as when you say, "They were going to furnish their house?"
Have children turn to page 7 and scan the first sentence on the page.
Say: Now let’s talk about this sentence. Let’s discuss what it means. What does this sentence tell you about the plot? Can you predict what might happen further into the story? What do you think Onhgarouk might find on the tundra? Can you now add anything to your initial predictions?
Have children turn to page 9 and read the last paragraph.
Ask: Do you think that Onhgarouk will become a ptarmigan? Can this sort of thing happen in folktales?
Ask children to turn to page 15 and discuss what is meant by uphold his responsibilities.
Have children turn to page 23 and read the last sentence on the page.
Ask: What does sympathetic mean? What is the noun that the word sympathetic comes from? Does this sentence help you make further predictions about how the story will end?
Have children return to page 3.
Go to During Reading
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