Skip to main content

A GIRL CALLED ECHO, by Katherena Vermette, review by Alexis, 18

A GIRL CALLED ECHO is the first graphic novel in the series A Girl Called Echo. Echo Desjardins is a thirteen-year-old Metis girl in Manitoba adjusting to a new home and school. The lessons in her history class about the Pemmican Wars literally transport Echo back to those times. She visits a Metis hunting camp where she befriends a girl named Marie, follows fur-trade routes and witnesses he conflicts and resilience of her ancestors.



I love this book. The words and images are perfectly matched. Echo is, like all Native/First Nations teens, a contemporary girl and also an echo of all the generations that have come before. Here are some special moments. When Echo first meets Marie, there is a great two-page spread of Marie showing her around, the two of them bonding, until they are lying under the stars side by side. I love seeing Echo in the library, browsing the graphic novels. I like seeing her playlists (Red Hot Chili Peppers!) There is one page that goes through her school day, each panel representing a different period. Her isolation is palpable. All of these details add authenticity and draw teens intimately into the MC's world.

Echo admits to her history teacher, Mr. Bee, that she doesn't know much about being Metis. When she visits her mother in a shelter or rehab, her mom is also not very knowledgeable about heir family history--though she notes Echo's grandpa was proud of being Metis--and Echo shares with her what's she's learned so far. The scene is both heartfelt and disconnected. I'm sure that relationship will be developed more in the second book.


Mr. Bee says of Echo's English teacher, Mx. Fracois, "They're great!" So happy to see a trans/enby character normalized in a setting teaching youth. Mx. Francois' bowtie rocks! Not as excited about Echo's disabled foster sibling. I think it's less progressive and successful representation.

I am so excited about future volumes in this series. Book Two, RED RIVER RESISTANCE, will be published by HighWater Press on March 1, 2019. I wish I had this book growing up. Highly recommended to all readers! The back matter gives more information about the Pemmican Wars. It made me daydream about skipping back in time to the Seminole Wars.

Shonabish to writer Katherena Vermette, illustrator Scott B. Henderson and color artist Donovan Yaciuk!!!! And to HighWater Press. Did you know that Indigenous comics are a big deal? Check out this link to Native Realities.





Labels:

Comments

  1. AmyCatJanuary 25, 2019 at 2:46 PM

    Just added these (#1 & #2 are out now, #3 due next year) to my book orders. An #OwnVoices time-travel GN sounds perfect for selling at science fiction conventions!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I CAN MAKE THIS PROMISE, by Christine Day--a review by Ashleigh, 13

This is the kind of book you can't put down. But you don't want to read it all at once either--because then it will be over! It's a novel I related to personally, and I think many readers will enjoy it, young and old.                      The more I look at this cover by Michaela Goade --all the details--the more I love it! The Upper Skagit author, Christine Day, has a "Dear Reader" note at the beginning of the ARC that is very heartfelt. She talks about being a graduate student and going on a trip "to visit a Suquamish Elder, the Suquamish Museum, and the historic site of Old Man House." She remembers the exact date--January 21. 2017--because it was the same day as the Women's March. She talks about seeing "Instagram flooded with pictures from the protests," while she ate breakfast and listened to professors.                                                                     pink hats This is kind of a perfect image of a
15 comments
Read more

APPLE IN THE MIDDLE, by Dawn Quigley--Review by Alexis, Age 18

*Warning: There are spoilers because I discuss the book, but I don’t give away important plot points. There is also use of the n-word. I know you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but I was really drawn to the image on Dawn Quigley’s APPLE IN THE MIDDLE (AITM) before the book was even published (August 2018). The image of a contemporary Native teen, who is not ridiculously glamorous, but pretty and real (love those earrings!), got stuck in my mind immediately. I thought, ‘I want to know who this girl is,’ and why there’s a pink house in the background. I am happy to say that the book more than lived up to my expectations. It’s not just a well-written, enjoyable book I admired from a distance. In some ways, I feel I am that girl on the cover, fifteen-year old Apple Starkington. Even though the circumstances of our lives are very different. Like Apple, I have a White father and a Native mother. My mom is Florida Seminole, while Apple’s mother was Turtle Mountain Chippewa.
1 comment
Read more

Welcome to Indigo's Bookshelf!

We are a group of Florida Natives--Miccosukee, Seminole, Black, Latinix, queer and disabled--from the ages 12-20, who are passionate about kidlit and yalit. We believe in the power of books to reflect, entertain and enrich our lives from the time we are young ones. We enjoy books in digital and bound copies, with texts and/or graphics. We have experienced the bitter disappointment and danger of widespread Native misrepresentation, theft, cruelty and lies in books for all young readers. This blog is dedicated to reviewing Native #ownvoices. To us, that means books written from an inside perspective by Native authors, with proper research, respect and authorization, first and foremost for young Native readers, but also to educate other young readers and their families. We join our elders in calling to replace harmful, stereotypical texts in libraries, schools and homes. This blog is named after our friend Indigo, a Q2S sixteen-year-old who took her own life in 2018  Her beauty
74 comments
Read more