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Book Reviewed by:Winner of the 2021 BookBrowse Award for Best Young Adult Novel
In Firekeeper's Daughter, debut author Angeline Boulley crafts a groundbreaking YA thriller about a Native teen who must root out the corruption in her community, for readers of Angie Thomas and Tommy Orange.
Eighteen-year-old Daunis Fontaine has never quite fit in, both in her hometown and on the nearby Ojibwe reservation. She dreams of a fresh start at college, but when family tragedy strikes, Daunis puts her future on hold to look after her fragile mother. The only bright spot is meeting Jamie, the charming new recruit on her brother Levi's hockey team.
Yet even as Daunis falls for Jamie, she senses the dashing hockey star is hiding something. Everything comes to light when Daunis witnesses a shocking murder, thrusting her into an FBI investigation of a lethal new drug.
Reluctantly, Daunis agrees to go undercover, drawing on her knowledge of chemistry and Ojibwe traditional medicine to track down the source. But the search for truth is more complicated than Daunis imagined, exposing secrets and old scars. At the same time, she grows concerned with an investigation that seems more focused on punishing the offenders than protecting the victims.
Now, as the deceptions―and deaths―keep growing, Daunis must learn what it means to be a strong Anishinaabe kwe (Ojibwe woman) and how far she'll go for her community, even if it tears apart the only world she's ever known.
CHAPTER 1
I start my day before sunrise, throwing on running clothes and laying a pinch of semaa at the eastern base of a tree, where sunlight will touch the tobacco first. Prayers begin with offering semaa and sharing my Spirit name, clan, and where I am from. I always add an extra name to make sure Creator knows who I am. A name that connects me to my father—because I began as a secret, and then a scandal.
I give thanks to Creator and ask for zoongidewin, because I'll need courage for what I have to do after my five-mile run. I've put it off for a week.
The sky lightens as I stretch in the driveway. My brother complains about my lengthy warm-up routine whenever he runs with me. I keep telling Levi that my longer, bigger, and therefore vastly superior muscles require more intensive preparation for peak performance. The real reason, which he would think is dorky, is that I recite the correct anatomical name for each muscle as I stretch. Not just the superficial muscles, but the ...
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BookBrowse Awards
2021
Edgar Awards
2022
Despite being almost 500 pages, the novel never drags, but keeps a slow and sustained pace. This adds an extra layer to what would otherwise just be your average thriller, as it allows the reader to truly digest every new piece of information that comes to light and become fully immersed in the world of the book. However, the faster-paced, more adrenaline-filled chapters will have you on the edge of your seat...continued
Full Review
(691 words)
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(Reviewed by Althea Draper).
Courtney Summers, New York Times-bestselling author of Sadie
Firekeeper's Daughter is a gripping and unforgettable story of family, community and identity told through the eyes of a protagonist so powerfully realized on the page, you'll swear you can hear her heart beat. Daunis Fontaine is a force to be reckoned with?and so is Angeline Boulley. This is one bold, uncompromising and elegantly crafted debut. Francisco X. Stork, acclaimed author of Marcelo in the Real World and Illegal
A rare and mesmerizing work that blends the power of a vibrant tradition with the aches and energy of today's America. This book will leave you breathless! Tochi Onyebuchi, award-winning author of Beasts Made of Night and Riot Baby
Intricate and moving. Boulley takes the reader on an incredible journey with the assurance of a veteran novelist.In Firekeeper's Daughter, Daunis is interested in how her fellow Ojibwe tribe members use medicinal herbs. She chooses to study pre-med courses and plant biology at college so that she may go on to study ethnobotany through an indigenous lens, and also learns directly from her tribe's Elders.
Traditional medicine is an important part of Ojibwe culture. The four sacred medicines, or Muskiiki, are used both in everyday practices as well as in ceremonies and on special occasions. Each of these sacred medicines has a place on the Ojibwe medicine wheel, a system that interconnects various teachings related to aspects of the world. For example, each medicine corresponds with a direction — tobacco with the east, sweetgrass with the north...
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