For many Canadians, the evocative stone towers called inuksuit, often resembling a human form outlined against the vast northern horizon, have supplanted the igloo as a symbol of the Arctic. In this companion volume to her award-winning The Inuksuk Book, Ontario artist and teacher Mary Wallace shows how to build one’s own inuksuk – a project that, on a small scale, seems within the reach of even those who aren’t good at crafts.

Along with well-illustrated advice about selecting and assembling stones, Wallace includes some background about the inuksuk and the many meanings it may convey. In the Arctic the inuksuit (plural form) traditionally indicated travel routes or hunting sites. The reader’s own inuksuk may be used, instead, to commemorate a person or event, celebrate a favourite garden spot or view, or represent a bond of family or friendship.

In her text and attractive photographs of many inuksuit she has built, Wallace suggests both ways to create the stone structures themselves and ways to use them to give significance to different aspects of our lives. While the explanatory illustrations and the basic skills required are within the reach of young children, the text is fairly sophisticated, using words like “adhere” and “intent” rather than “stick” and “purpose.” Evidently sensitive to issues of cultural appropriation, Wallace includes many direct quotations from Inuit elders commenting on the traditional uses of inuksuit, and her dedication acknowledges those for whom the craft was part of a whole way of life.