Noe’s Comics Nook: Waluk

Review

Waluk is a young polar bear, learning his way through his icy, Artic home with the help of an older bear named Eskimo. When we meet them they are searching for food, primarily seals, but are finding it increasingly challenging to reach them – the ice is thinning, the swimming distances longer, and the number of catchable prey fewer. Along the way they befriend a mother bear and her two cubs, a bunch of dangerously loyal sled dogs, and a wise and sarcastic owl, all of whom have run-ins with a pair of humans, including a white man named Castor who ultimately suffers for his crimes.

The story Miralles and Ruiz weave is playful and endearing in the way animal focused stories for young readers tend to be, with amusing moments (like a shipping container full of stuffed polar bears) and young characters learning about the world. And yet there is a cruel reality to this icy world as well. We see the root cause of the receding ice when a shipping container plows through the ice, leaving an oily sludge in its wake. We see human desperation, selfishness, and cruelty to animals. Throughout all of these struggles however, we see the power of hope and of trust in one another – and those are things all of us will need as we continue hurdling toward a world ravaged by climate change. 

The artwork for this comic is a beautiful mixture of sweeping landscapes and subtle blending of animal and human expressions into our main characters. That blending is handled rather well, a difficult thing to achieve. There are a few pages that integrate imagery influenced by Arctic Native cultures, but it is unclear to me how accurate these depictions are and there is no reference credit provided. This is a problem for the comic as a whole, as part of the story revolves around pieces of these cultures and there is no credit given for them. The choice to name the older bear Eskimo also raises concern about this title, as that is a term typically considered derogatory now. These questionable choices make it difficult to recommend an otherwise worthwhile story.

Elements of Story

Plot: Waluk, a young polar bear being helped and helping his older polar bear companion Eskimo, travel around the Arctic on an adventure that sees them befriend other bears, dogs, and an owl while confronting the human induced suffering of their world.

Characters: Eskimo, Waluk, Castor, Yukon, Uhuapeu, Valkia, Bear Cubs, Phil, numerous unnamed humans, dogs, and other animals, “Loki,” Great Spirits

Major Settings: Arctic Tundra

Themes: Chosen family, trust, environmental destruction, climate change, animal rights, human ethics

Lesson Plan Idea Using Common Core Standards (CCS)

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.4 – Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative language such as metaphors and similes.

Directions: Names have great power. They not only point to individual and collective identities, but they shape the way we view the world and those that inhabit it. Throughout Waluk, the reader is introduced to numerous characters, but only some of them are granted names. Others are identified by some outward characteristic they possess or are simply not referred to as an individual at all.

For this assignment, students are asked to reflect on the naming conventions in Waluk by answering the following:

1. Choose an example of a type of character (bear, dog, human, etc.) and compare one that is given a name to one that is not. What role does each play in the story? Does their being named mean they are more important or is it their actions that show you that? Does the name “fit” the character that has it? What name would you give the unnamed character and why?
   
   
2. One of the main characters in this comic is named Eskimo. This is a term that has commonly been used to refer to Inuit and Yupik people of the world, but is now considered unacceptable by most people within those communities. Read this article from the Alaska Native Language Center and reflect on the choice to name a polar bear this way. Do you think this was an appropriate choice? Why or why not?