A kind and beautiful young maiden is tricked into switching parkas with a stranger in this traditional Inuit tale, finding herself transformed into an ugly caterpillar woman when she dons the other woman's garment. Withdrawing to live by herself on the tundra because she fears her appearance might frighten her family, Piujuq ("beautiful") eventually encounters three hunters on a quest to find wives. One of them, the kind-hearted Amaruq ("wolf"), asks her to become his wife, and the two eventually fall in love. Although an older man, Amaruq is a good provider, and when Piujuq expresses a desire to dance again, as she did before her transformation, he sets out to make a drum for her, finding a magical drum beater in the process that makes him young and strong again, and reverses the enchantment on his wife.

Published by Inhabit Media, an Inuit-owned press based in Iqaluit, Nunavut, The Caterpillar Woman is an immensely engaging tale, one that folk and fairy-tale lovers will take to heart. Like many of the more well-known classics - Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, etc. - the heroine here is rewarded for her innocence and kindness, finding a happy ending through her own virtue. The illustrations, done by Australian artist Carolyn Gan, capture the beauty of Piujuq and Amaruq's far-northern home, as well as the creepier aspects of Piujuq's transformation. There was one scene where I felt that the artwork didn't match the written description - shouldn't Piujuq have green bristly hair? - but other than that, I thought that the illustrations here were well-matched to the story. I'm very happy to have discovered Inhabit Media, as I am always looking for smaller publishers with quality output, and also value books about Native/First Nations people created by native people themselves (Nadia Sammurtok is Inuit). Recommended to anyone looking for traditional Inuit stories specifically, or for entertaining folktales in general. ( )