The Middle of Everywhere

Monique Polak

Oct 2009 · Orca Book Publishers

About this ebook

Just then, I hear more sniffling. It's getting louder, coming closer. When I peek out through the crack, I'm confused. There's a mountain of snow out there. Only it wasn't there before. Where could all that snow have come from? Of course, it isn't snow. It's a bear. A polar bear. Or part of a polar bear, anyhow. I can't see the top or the bottom of him from here-just his giant furry white mountain of a middle. Even crouched over, he's huge. My jaw drops, and every part of me is shaking-my hands, my knees, even my belly. I want to speak, but I know I mustn't. Besides, right now, I don't think my mouth would work. I'm too afraid. My fear is pure and cold and overpowering. Fifteen-year-old Noah Thorpe is spending the school term in George River, in Quebec's far North. The Inuit call Noah a Qallunaaq-the Inuktitut word for a non-Inuit person, someone ignorant of the customs of the North. Noah thinks the Inuit have a strange way of looking at the world, plus they eat raw meat and seal blubber. Most have never left George River-a town that doesn't even have its own doctor, let alone a McDonald's. But Noah's views change when he realizes he will have to learn a few lessons from his Inuit buddies if he wants to survive the North.

About the author

Tarksalik is about forty feet ahead of me, running by the side of the road. I can tell she's got sled-dog blood in her from the way she runs: head high, legs taut.

The sun has just come up, and when it lands on Tarksalik, it looks like she's shining too. For the first time since I found out I'd be spending this term in Nunavik, in northern Quebec, getting reacquainted with my dad, I don't feel one hundred percent miserable. Right now, as I let the fresh cold air fill my lungs, I'd say I'm down to about eighty-five percent miserable.

Maybe, I think as I watch Tarksalik run, this visit won't turn out to be a total disaster. Maybe there's more to life than Montreal.