Review by Booklist Review
Treuer (Everything You Wanted to Know about Indians but Were Afraid to Ask, 2021) immerses the reader in Ojibwe culture in this suspenseful novel of wilderness survival. At school in Northeast Minneapolis, Ezra tolerates Matt's bullying. But when Matt targets his friend Nora, Ezra snaps back. That very night, Matt's house goes up in flames. To shelter Ezra from a potentially racist police investigation, his father sends him deep into their Canadian tribal lands to work the trap lines with Grandpa Liam for the second half of ninth grade. Ezra welcomes the distance from his father, whom he blames for his mother's recent death from leukemia. And Ezra is excited to share his grandpa's small hunting cabin, learn the sacred ways of the harvest, and navigate a Ski-Doo around the isolated lakes and forests north of the Minnesota-Ontario border. Visits to their Nigigoonsiminikaaning community on the rez give Ezra a chance to Zoom with his teachers and text with Nora. The details and pure physicality of running the lines are vivid and fascinating, and Grandpa Liam is a character for the ages, filled with love, knowledge, and humor. The pace accelerates when treacherous terrain, threatening wildlife, family secrets, and Matt's vow of revenge spill into an extended fight for survival. Ezra's growth--in strength, skill, responsibility, and empathy--is hard-won. An essential illumination of contemporary Indigenous life.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Ojibwe teen Ezra Cloud hates his Northeast Minneapolis home; he's tired of the bullying he endures from his peers regarding his heritage ("White people didn't have to live that kind of fear," Ezra thinks). He much prefers the surroundings of Nigigoonsiminikaaning First Nation, his reservation on the other side of the U.S.-Canada border. The taunting becomes more personal for Ezra when bully Matt torments Ezra's Ojibwe friend. That night, Matt's father and uncle die in a house fire, and Ezra is the prime suspect. To escape police suspicion, Ezra's father sends him to Nigigoonsiminikaaning, where he will work the winter trapline with his grandfather. While navigating the snowy wilderness, he learns about the animals of the area, as well as his grandfather's past. He also struggles with unresolved anger at his father over his mother's death while working at a dangerous lumber company. This leisurely paced novel by Ojibwe author Treuer (Everything You Wanted to Know About Indians but Were Afraid to Ask, for adults) contains immersive detail about trapping methods as well as Indigenous tales about the natural world, making for an intriguing if meandering adventure. Ages 12--up. (June)
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Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 8 Up--Ojibwe teen Ezra stands up to Matt, the school bully for harassing Nora, his crush, and injures himself. The next day, he and Nora learn Matt's family perished in a house fire, and Matt, who survived, is blaming the fire on Ezra. Ezra's father Byron takes him up to "Red Gut," their reservation in Canada, to stay with Grandpa Liam and Grandma Emma. He is told he will help Grandpa work the trapline--a dream come true for him to learn hunting and survival skills. Ezra is free from the tricky situation at school and begins to process his mom's death, which strained his relationship with his dad, at their isolated trapping cabin. A long-buried family secret is revealed, and he learns how far Grandpa Liam will go to protect their family and friends. The narrative is well written with Ojibwe language scattered throughout. Grandpa Liam constantly educates Ezra on their history and culture, which sometimes sounds like a textbook. Ezra's struggles with a crush, loss of a parent, and a bully will resonate with readers. Parts of the ending are predictable, but there is a twist. Stylistic sketches of a wolf begin each chapter, since Ezra's family is wolf clan, and a bear sketch starts each section. Ojibwe translations are included, along with an author's note. VERDICT A great first purchase for all libraries, with a unique hero's journey for Ezra as he begins to assume adult responsibilities.--Tamara Saarinen
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Review by Horn Book Review
Fifteen-year-old Ezra Cloud wishes he were on the rez at Nigigoonsiminikaaning First Nation with Grandpa Liam. Instead, he is stuck in northeast Minneapolis, being bullied by Matt Schroeder. When Matt's house burns down just hours after they have a fight, Ezra's father worries about suspicion falling on his son and decides that Ezra should go to the rez to be with his grandparents in Canada while the police investigate. As Ezra learns more about Ojibwe culture and activities (including hunting and trapping), he begins to heal from the loss of his mother a year earlier and let go of his long-held anger toward his father. He also learns family secrets that change how he understands himself and those around him. In his introspective and compelling debut YA novel, Treuer weaves Ojibwe history and traditions with contemporary concerns for Ojibwe teens. Readers also bear witness, via the grandfather character's memories, to the violent impact of the residential schools on families and children. Back matter includes an Ojibwe glossary and an author's note that acknowledges changes made to real-life stories and customs for narrative effect. Nicholl Denice MontgomeryJuly/August 2024 p.142 (c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A fire changes a 15-year-old boy's life in this fiction debut by noted Ojibwe scholar and author Treuer. Ezra Cloud, a member of the Nigigoonsiminikaaning First Nation in Canada, lives in Minneapolis with his professor father, Byron. When the home of bully Matt Schroeder--"just the kind of colonizer who would've been a perfect fit in the US 7th Cavalry in 1890, trying to kill innocent Lakota children with a Hotchkiss gun"--mysteriously burns down the night after a public altercation between Matt and Ezra, the police want to question Matt's classmates. Byron arranges for his son to give his statement over Zoom and takes him back to the rez, where Ezra is thrilled to learn he'll be working the trapline for the winter with Grandpa Liam. Ezra's a strong student who must still do his homework and check in with teachers when he has internet access, but otherwise he'll be focusing on wilderness knowledge. Alongside issues such as racism, Ezra's first-person perspective thoughtfully explores grief: His mother passed recently, and he's angry and has a rocky relationship with Byron. The novel positively portrays Indigenous characters through characterization that embraces and affirms the parallel paths of traditional ways and formal schooling. Byron is a caring father who wants to be involved in his son's life during a trying time. The Cloud family are wolf clan, something referenced in Pawis-Steckley's striking Anishinaabe woodland art--style digital spot illustrations. A nuanced adventure centering family and growth. (Ojibwe translations, author's note) (Fiction. 12-18) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
