A Promise is a Promise

This is a bit of a scary tale of a little girl who disobeys and as a result is visited by a Qallupilluq an imaginary Inuit creature kind of like a troll. The illustrations are wonderful but the whole concept is a little scary for very young children. Could be used to introduce different cultural beliefs into the classroom.

A young girl is warned by her parents not to go ice fishing in the ocean. They warn her that if she goes alone, sea creatures will surely snatch her away.

I recently reread this book and found out why it was my childhood favourite.

Ignoring the warnings of her parents, young Allashua goes anyway. When the sea creatures arrive, Allashua makes a promise she may not be able to keep.

Allashua was told to stay away from the ice, particularly the ice that is cracked, and thus it would be easy to fall through the bitter cold ice into the water underneath.

Allashua did not listen to her parents. She promised them she would not go to the cracked ice. This is also a story of old stories of creatures who are dangerous and do not mean well.

When she called "Qallupillut smell like a dead whale in the summer." nothing happened, thus she thought the ice was safe. Walking out into the danger, she yelled again and again, taunting the creatures. She began to fish through the cracks in the ice, and soon fell in the cold water.

The Qallupilluit did indeed come to see who had taunted them. Allashua made a deal in exchange for her life. show more When she ran home, her clothes froze as she remembered telling the creatures that she would bring her brothers and sisted to the sea ice.

Her mother found a way to break the spell by denying the creatures the treats she possessed. show less

This is a tale from the Northwest Territories that is used to inform children to stay away from the ice during the winter. Through imaginary monsters, these tales “scare” children from making decisions that can result in harming them. Robert Munsch does extensive research to make sure that his tales are authentic. Until he writes about stories like these, the stories remain “oral language” until recorded by Munsch.

This book can be used to inform our students and expose them to different cultures and tales that we traditionally wouldn’t see. Students can compare/contrast the tales that they have been exposed to and discuss what messages/themes are common across cultures.

This is about a girl who does not listen to her mother and she regrets it. But her parents help her right the wrong. Great fairy tale with a lesson to be learned.

Please go hit 'like' on this review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/111512349?book_show_action=true&from_r... Tom says exactly what I would say, only better.

Reread March 2023 in [b:The Munschworks Grand Treasury|285755|The Munschworks Grand Treasury|Robert Munsch|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1390869389l/285755._SX50_.jpg|277243], in which it is last story in the book. Very interesting to compare this collaboration to Munsch's other works.

NIce tall tale