Bibliography
Boulley, Angeline. 2021. FIREKEEPR’S DAUGHTER. New York: Henry Holt and Company. ISBN 1250866030
Plot Summary
Angeline Boulley’s Firekeeper’s Daughter, takes place around the Ojibwe community in Michigan and follows Daunis, an 18-year-old biracial Ojibwe/Caucasian ex-hockey player. Daunis has recently graduated from high school, but as she struggles to decide what to do next with her life, she witnesses her best friend’s murder. As she grieves her friend’s death, Daunis becomes involved with an undercover operation to identify members of a meth ring. Daunis’ thrilling discoveries reveal her struggle between remaining faithful to her Native culture and uncovering the truth behind her friend’s and other community women’s deaths.
Critical Analysis
American Indian Youth Literature Honor, 2022
Michael L. Printz Award, 2022
William C. Morris YA Debut Award, 2022
In this powerful Young Adult thriller, Angeline Boulley receives notable critical acclaim. The most meaningful theme throughout Firekeeper’s Daughter involves Daunis’ ability to balance her mixed Ojibwe and white heritage. Boulley crafts Daunis as a young woman torn between protecting her heritage and finding justice for her loved ones. Boulley intrigues her audience with thrilling suspense as she reveals layers of secrets within the Ojibwe tribal leaders and Daunis’ undercover FBI work. Boulley carefully integrates cultural nuance with the use of traditional stories and practices which lends authenticity to the meth epidemic affecting Indigenous communities.
The audiobook produced by Macmillan Audio (2021), narrated by Isabella Star LaBlanc offers the audience another layer of authenticity. LaBlanc lifts the complex intonation and inflexion of Ojibwe pronunciations for listeners. The hefty 14-hour narration is almost impossible to pause, as each chapter leaves the listener thinking critically about the ongoing resilience of Native Indigenous women.
Review Excerpts
Horn Book Magazine (May/June, 2021) Readers are introduced to the Anishinaabemowin language and, as Daunis calls on traditional knowledge to assist her in the investigation alongside her scientific knowledge, to the customs of the Sugar Island Ojibwe. This is a gripping page-turner, multifaceted, authentic, and suspenseful, that will keep readers wondering who is responsible for the meth that is taking over Daunis's community -- and who exactly she can trust.
Publishers Weekly starred (February 1, 2021) Hitting hard when it comes to issues such as citizenship, language revitalization, and the corrosive presence of drugs on Native communities, this novel will long stand in the hearts of both Native and non-Native audiences.
School Library Journal (March 1, 2021) This #OwnVoices novel is a character-driven crime thriller packed with Ojibwe culture and high-stakes tension with themes of identity, trust, and resilience.
Connections
Explore other works by the author, Angeline Boulley https://angelineboulley.com/books.html
Lead discussions involving rich heritage of Native Indigenous cultures
Discuss themes of intergenerational trauma among Native Indigenous groups and the resilience of the culture
Explore sensitive topics of drug use and addiction, sexual violence, injustice and inequality among Native Indigenous communities
Bibliography
Green, John. 2005. LOOKING FOR ALASKA. New York, New York: Speak: an Imprint of Penguin Group. ISBN 0142402516
Plot Summary
John Green’s Looking for Alaska, centers around 16-year-old Miles Pudge as he leaves his home in Florida and begins life at Culver Creek Preparatory School in Alabama. Miles is in search of new experiences, and he finds just that with the help of his roommate’s group of friends. Culver Creek’s rivaling cliques pull endless pranks on each other while Miles’ desire for an impulsive and emotionally erratic Alaska Young escalates. In one of her drunken spirals, Alaska mysteriously leaves campus and is killed in a car crash. Through their grief, Miles and his friends attempt to uncover what exactly happened to their beloved Alaska that fatal night.
Critical Analysis
Michael L. Printz Award, 2006
John Green’s debut novel, Looking for Alaska, won the Michael L. Printz Award in 2006. Green tackles adolescent themes of identity, friendship, love, lust, and grief through the naive and hilariously innocent Miles. With the help of Mile’s experiences, Green takes his reader through a journey of self-discovery. Green’s narrative style allows us to feel the awkward ick of this sixteen-year-old boy’s lust and tribulations. Green weaves existential questions and religious aspects surrounding Alaska’s death to allow his Young Adult audience the space to explore these complex themes.
Wil Wheaton narrates the audiobook produced by Penguin Random House (2019). Wheaton’s narration compliments Green’s writing beautifully. Wheaton encapsulates the wit and charm of Miles and his friends in a way that lifts the sarcasm and awkwardness off the page.
Review Excerpts
Horn Book Guide starred (Fall 2005) These intelligent characters talk smart, yet don't always behave that way, and are thus complex and realistically portrayed teenagers.
Kirkus Reviews starred (March 1, 2005) “What sings and soars in this gorgeously told tale is Green's mastery of language and the sweet, rough edges of Pudge's voice. Girls will cry and boys will find love, lust, loss and longing in Alaska's vanilla-and-cigarettes scent.”
Library Media Connection (November/December 2005) Looking for Alaska will haunt readers with its memorable characters, its literary and philosophical questions about life and death that so fascinate teens, and its ultimate affirmation of a life lived fully.
Connections
Explore other works by the author, John Green https://www.johngreenbooks.com/
Discuss themes of relationships and identity through analysis of character development
Discuss other literary connections in the novel such as the quotes of famous last words
Carefully explore sensitive topics of sexual exploration, alcohol use, death and trauma
Bibliography
Lamb, Sacha. 2022. WHEN THE ANGELS LEFT THE OLD COUNTRY. Montclair, New Jersey: Levine Querido. ISBN 1646141768
Plot Summary
Sacha Lamb’s When the Angels Left the Old Country, begins in a small Jewish village in Eastern Europe, and centers around a demon named Little Ash and an angel named Uriel. As the two learn about young Jews that have gone missing in America, they devise a plan to leave the Old Country and journey to America to find a girl from their village named Essie. Once in America Little Ash and Uriel encounter demons and ghosts that pose danger. Together they uncover a greater evil involving many missing Jewish workers and devote themselves to rescue the restless souls they face. Along the way Little Ash and Uriel question their own identities and roles in their faith and friendship.
Critical Analysis
Michael L. Printz Honor, 2023
Mythopoeic Fantasy Award
National Jewish Book Award finalist
Stonewall Book Award, 2023
Sydney Taylor Book Award, 2023
Sacha Lamb’s historical fiction fantasy novel combines Jewish folklore with themes of immigration, friendship, and identity through a third person narrator. Lamb masterfully develops a compelling setting full of historical intrigue and spiritual struggle. Lamb’s description of the Jewish immigrant experiences in America offers an action-packed backdrop for the complex characters of Little Ash and Uriel. While this story is just as much about spiritual enlightenment as historic accuracy, Lamb crafts a meaningful world that allows the reader to explore Jewish mysticism and experience the social injustice of immigrants coming to America.
Donald Corren narrates the audiobook produced by Recorded Books (2022) and offers the audience the ability to listen to authentic Yiddish and Hebrew phrases through a dynamic performance. Corren brings out the personalities of each character and differentiates the voices for the audience. The emotional layers of the character's’ relationships make this 9-hour listen even more impactful.
Review Excerpts
Booklist starred (October 1, 2022 (Vol. 119, No. 3)) Richly imagined and plotted, this inspired book has the timeless feeling of Jewish folklore, which is further enhanced by the presence of two magical protagonists, and not one but two dybbuks! In the end, of course, it’s the author who has performed the mitzvah by giving their readers this terrific debut novel.
Publishers Weekly starred (October 17, 2022) Via a literary third-person point of view, Lamb admirably utilizes a familiar arc of early 20th-century emigration as the foundation of this powerfully moving tale.
School Library Journal Xpress starred (January 27, 2023) A must-buy for any collection, Lamb's historical fiction novel brings soft queer joy to a compelling tale of immigrants and unions and Jewish folklore.
Connections
Explore the author, Sacha Lamb https://sachalamb.wordpress.com/
Explore Jewish folklore
Explore the Yiddish, Hebrew, Aramaic term glossary in the backmatter
Discuss sensitive topics of faith, identity, exploitation
Connect to current stories of immigrants and refugees traveling to America
Connect to themes of overcoming adversity and social awareness
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