11/25/2013
In 1885 Ontario, “white-skin” loggers are destroying the native Anishnaabe people’s land and claiming it as their own. Five-year-old Mishqua Ma’een’gun (Red Wolf) and other children are torn from their homes and forced to attend boarding school. Red Wolf is renamed George Grant and force-fed English and Christianity by the impatient and cruel school staff. Red Wolf is devastated, confused, and abused, his wolf pendant his only comfort. When he is finally allowed to visit his family, the adjustment is jarring, and his resentment grows. Meanwhile, Crooked Ear, a wolf that bonded with Red Wolf after the wolf’s family was murdered, searches for the child. Dance’s first novel addresses a horrific historical period and details Red Wolf’s harsh awakening in painful, hard-hitting scenes. Although the characters can be one-note and the narrative blunt (when Red Wolf’s father asks what he has learned at school the boy thinks, “I learned that I am a savage.... I learned to hide inside myself and pretend I wasn’t there”), readers will finish with a strong sense of the abuses suffered by natives at the hands of settlers. Ages 9–12. (Feb.)
Red Wolf
Narrated by Jacques Nadjiwon
Jennifer DanceUnabridged — 5 hours, 12 minutes
Red Wolf
Narrated by Jacques Nadjiwon
Jennifer DanceUnabridged — 5 hours, 12 minutes
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Overview
In the late 1800s, both Native people and wolves are being forced from the land. Starving and lonely, an orphaned timber wolf is befriended by a boy named Red Wolf. But under the Indian Act, Red Wolf is forced to attend a residential school far from the life he knows, and the wolf is alone once more. Courage, love and fate reunite the pair, and they embark on a perilous journey home. But with winter closing in, will Red Wolf and Crooked Ear survive? And if they do, what will they find?
Cover design by Carmen Giraudy by permission of Dundurn Press Limited
Editorial Reviews
Jennifer Dance's Red Wolf is a heartrending, relentlessly compelling novel about the impact of the Indian Act of 1876 and the residential schools system upon indigenous cultures.
Red Wolf offered a realistic portrayal of what life might have been like in a residential school and the subsequent fallout of generations of children who don't know who they are. It was a good read, but a heartbreaking one.
Although Red Wolf is marketed as juvenile fiction, it is a book that will appeal to all ages. Poignantly written from the perspective of both boy and wolf, it brilliantly encapsulates the fear, alienation and hopelessness felt by a child who is powerless against a system which seeks to annihilate his heritage, spiritual beliefs and family ties.
Red Wolf depicts an unquestionably shameful part of our history about which today’s children should be informed. The novel serves that purpose while reinforcing our feelings of outrage and disgust.
Children and young adults alike will want to read Jennifer Dance's novel on the intertwined stories of a wolf and a First Nation boy. It is exactly the sort of story I loved when I was a boy.
This book could make a big impact on the way that non-aboriginals look at First Nations people.... I strongly believe it also has a place in healing the legacy of the residential schools within First Nations communities where lack of self identity and self respect still endure.
Told with great empathy and careful research, Jennifer Dance has done a good job of making us feel alienated, lost, and in between worlds ... an important book for young readers about the sad history of Canada's residential school system.
While the topic is a difficult one, [Red Wolf] covers the realities faced by First Nations in the late 1800’s in a realistic and broad-minded manner.
Dance puts a human face to the history books by portraying the terror and confusion of a young boy ripped away from his family and forced to conform to the rules of a cruel and bigoted world he doesn't understand. What is especially impressive is how Dance manages to capture the internalized self-hatred forced upon the students of the residential schools.
With Red Wolf, Jennifer Dance has come howling out of the wilderness … and I'm deeply impressed.
Dance imbues the novel with lyrical prose and lilting rhythms, and the essence of what we’ve come to recognize in First Nation storytelling.
This book should be placed in every classroom in Canada. It is informative of our cultural way of life, and respectful of all creation. There are things that non-natives do not understand about our culture. This book will help with the understanding.
The Dickensian world of any nineteenth-century boarding school, particularly a Canadian Indian residential school with the agonizing clash of indigenous and British cultures, is excellent fodder for Dance’s powers of portrayal, and she gives a memorable picture of those who worked in these institutions.
With Red Wolf, Jennifer Dance has come howling out of the wilderness … and I'm deeply impressed.
With Red Wolf, Jennifer Dance has come howling out of the wilderness … and I'm deeply impressed.
Dance imbues the novel with lyrical prose and lilting rhythms, and the essence of what we’ve come to recognize in First Nation storytelling.
With Red Wolf, Jennifer Dance has come howling out of the wilderness ... and I'm deeply impressed.
Dance imbues the novel with lyrical prose and lilting rhythms, and the essence of what we've come to recognize in First Nation storytelling.
With Red Wolf, Jennifer Dance has come howling out of the wilderness … and I'm deeply impressed.
This book could make a big impact on the way that non-aboriginals look at First Nations people.... I strongly believe it also has a place in healing the legacy of the residential schools within First Nations communities where lack of self identity and self respect still endure.
Dance puts a human face to the history books by portraying the terror and confusion of a young boy ripped away from his family and forced to conform to the rules of a cruel and bigoted world he doesn't understand. What is especially impressive is how Dance manages to capture the internalized self-hatred forced upon the students of the residential schools. Bookshelf Reviews
There are things that non-natives do not understand about our culture. This book will help with the understanding.
Told with great empathy and careful research, Jennifer Dance has done a good job of making us feel alienated, lost, and in between worlds ... an important book for young readers about the sad history of Canada's residential school system.
Told with great empathy and careful research, Jennifer Dance has done a good job of making us feel alienated, lost, and in between worlds ... an important book for young readers about the sad history of Canada's residential school system.
This book could make a big impact on the way that non-aboriginals look at First Nations people.... I strongly believe it also has a place in healing the legacy of the residential schools within First Nations communities where lack of self identity and self respect still endure.
With Red Wolf, Jennifer Dance has come howling out of the wilderness . . . and I'm deeply impressed.
Children and young adults alike will want to read Jennifer Dance's novel on the intertwined stories of a wolf and a First Nation boy. It is exactly the sort of story I loved when I was a boy.
Children and young adults alike will want to read Jennifer Dance's novel on the intertwined stories of a wolf and a First Nation boy. It is exactly the sort of story I loved when I was a boy.
Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940177349695 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Heraclon Publishing Canada |
| Publication date: | 01/01/2014 |
| Edition description: | Unabridged |
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