Niitu and Chips: Childhood Moments

Young readers first met Niitu and Chips in 2022 in Niitu and Chips. Niitu is an Inuit boy who lives in the North with his imaginary best friend, Chips, an Arctic seal. Like Calvin and Hobbes, Niitu and Chips share everyday childhood pastimes that sometimes turn into great adventures. Niitu’s mischievous nature sometimes gets him into situations he can’t control. The following are some of the things Niitu does:

Sneaks out of bed to watch TV.
Slides down a hill and crashes at the bottom
Gets up on the monkey bars and then can’t get down
Picks all the marshmallows bits out of a box of cereal
Daydreams at school about basketball and flying
Races toy cars
Works out to build up his strength

The graphic novel format uses heavy black outlines around the vivid colours of the illustrations. The dialogue is very expressive with bold font and a generous use of upper case letters and exclamation points for emphasis.

Young children will enjoy reading the book or having it read to them. They will be able to relate to some of Niitu’s behaviours and appreciate the Inuit influence in some of the illustrations which include Arctic scenery and Chips, an Arctic seal.