• Age: 9 to 12
• Grade: 4
• Reading age: 9 to 12

Napachee is tired of Sachs Harbour, Northwest Territories. He is tired of the traditional Inuit hunt and of fighting with his father, who shuns snowmobiles for dog sleds and tents for igloos. When two men from the Edmonton zoo fly in to capture a polar bear cub, Napachee spies his chance at a trip to the big city, but soon discovers that life there is not what he had expected.

Robert Feagan is the author of the children's novels Napachee and Mystery at Shildii Rock. He was born in Fort McPherson, Northwest Territories, and often accompanied his Royal Canadian Mounted Police father on patrols of the Mackenzie Delta by dog team. Feagan has lived in Yellowknife, Cambridge Bay, and Inuvik, but currently resides in St. Albert, Alberta, near Edmonton.

Robert Feagan's profile page

"At last! A book about a teenager from the Arctic, by someone who knows what he's writing about ... Fiction that reads like fact. It should."

The Whitehorse STAR

"This spellbinding tale envelops the reader in the fascinating life and culture of the Inuit and Invialuit. The glossary at the back of the book translates the Aboriginal words, while a map of Nunavut and the Arctic area north fo the 60th parallel covers the journey made by Napachee and Jo. Highly recommended."

CBRA

Napachee

In this young adult novel first published in 1999, Napachee, an Inuktitut boy living in remote Sachs Harbour, is tired of hunting and decides he would prefer to live in a city. When men from the Edmonton Zoo capture a local cub, Napachee becomes a stowaway in the captured cub’s cage. Near Edmonton, the transporting truck goes off the road, spilling Napachee and the cub into the woods. Napachee is caught and taken to Edmonton where the zookeeper’s rebellious daughter, Jo, is told to entertain him. The busy city makes Napachee miss his Inuktitut way of life, and with Jo he starts his trek home on foot. They track the cub and by feeding him they make their way to Sachs Harbour where there is a bittersweet reunion of Napachee and his father, and the cub and its mother. A glossary of Inuktitut words is included.

Feagan is also the author of Mystery at Shildii Rock.