Elder says writing kids book about Taloyoak, Nunavut, a ‘dream come true’

An elder in Taloyoak says publishing her first book is a dream come true. 

Elizabeth Lyall, 72, is a co-author of a children’s book called Let’s Explore Taloyoak that was released on Tuesday. 

The story is fictional but was inspired by a real experience.

Lyall, going by her Inuktitut name, Tasiuq, is a young character in the book. Her cousin Siasi is coming to visit, and together, they check out all of Taloyoak’s important sites. 

Let’s Explore Taloyoak is published by Arvaaq Press (which used to be called Inhabit Education Books) and is being printed in four languages in three different variations: Inuktitut and English, Inuinnaqtun and English, and Inuktitut and French. 

Lyall, a retired child educator, hopes the book will help children learn their Inuit language. 

“We read about those fairytales like Snow White and the Seven Dwarves or all these things that are not real, so we want … to connect to the little children of what they know,” she said. “Make it interesting for the little kids to engage in.” 

Lyall said Sarah Leslie, a manager of early childhood training and resources for the Nunavut government, approached her with the idea of writing a children's book two years ago. The pair ended up working on it together. Leslie used her middle name, Emma, for her credit as a co-author. 

Leslie said that the story is inspired by her visit to the community in a previous role with the Department of Education, where she met Lyall for the first time. They came up with the idea together when talking about what the story should be about.

“She met me directly at the airport and just showed up and said, ‘Hey, I’m Elizabeth.’ … She kind of just whisked me away on the back of her quad and, like, the rest was kinda history,” said Leslie.

“That was terrifying for me because I had no helmet on, and here in Iqaluit we wear helmets, right? But I said, ‘Do you remember that? That’d be kind of cool. Like, what if you did a story kind of similar?' And then she said, ‘Yep, let’s do that.’ And we just kind of pieced [it] together.” 

Lyall said she took photos of different landmarks around the community and provided information about each one: the old stone church, the office of the Hunters and Trappers Association, the preschool, and a colourful neighbourhood of homes referred to as Disneyland. 

Toronto-based illustrator Amiel Sandland used those images to make the story come to life. 

Let’s Explore Taloyoak is available on Arvaaq Press