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Reeling from his teenage sister’s suicide and worried about his depressed and grieving mother, an Anishinaabe teen finds his plans disrupted immediately after high school graduation. Shane had been planning to leave the reservation for college in Toronto, but with a gaping hole in the roof of his family’s house and a lack of financial assistance, he won’t be going anywhere soon. He longs to move to the city, where he can live authentically as a gay man, preferably with David, with whom he is secretly involved. David, though, is reluctant to leave the reservation or to come out. Shane is closeted too, and his girlfriend, Tara, hopes to accompany him to the city. As Shane’s options become fewer, his desperation and despair grow, leading him to hatch a foolhardy escape plan. In elegant prose, this novel movingly portrays the determination and desires of characters struggling to embrace their various identities within the spaces they inhabit, despite a dearth of resources and overwhelming odds against them, while the tragedy of suicide among young First Nations women echoes through the narrative. ©2019 Cooperative Children’s Book Center

CCBC Age Recommendation: Age 14 and older
Age Range: Grades 9-12 (Age 14 and older)
Format: Novel
Subjects: Anishinaabe People Drugs and Alcohol Economic Hardship and Poverty Education First/Native Nations Gays Grief and Loss Identity LGBTQ+ Persons Suicide
Diversity subject: Indigenous LGBTQ Character/Topic Physical

Publisher: Annick
Publish Year: 2018
Pages: 230
ISBN: 9781554519774
CCBC Location: Fiction, Jones

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