An empowering telling of a journey to healing.
When white doctors neglect the Siksikaitsitapi (Blackfoot) community’s needs, a young man discovers his calling to be a doctor, but the path is not always straightforward.
As a child in 1990s Alberta, Ryan Fox visited the medical clinic in Cardston, where he and his mother were treated dismissively. Growing up on the rez, Ryan attended school in a nearby majority-white town, where Indigenous people experienced pervasive racism. Fortunately, Ryan’s family’s pride in him and his connection to his community had a profound impact. A ceremony he attended with his father, in which a man who’d formerly abused alcohol received a headdress from elders in recognition that he had begun “to heal himself, and now he has duties, responsibilities, and obligations to help the community heal too,” serves as both warning and foretelling of Ryan’s life journey. Away at college in Lethbridge, Ryan experiences peer pressure to drink and party—but he falls in love with a young woman who’s a serious student. Along with Ryan’s loving, incarcerated uncle, she helps him recommit to his goals, despite his despair over his falling grades. With guidance from the Creator, Ryan returns to his path, eventually becoming a doctor and working to support First Nations communities. The accessible text consists primarily of dialogue and is complemented by skillfully composed, thought-provoking illustrations that show the impact of painful topics like substance abuse, medical assault, and racism against Indigenous peoples.
An empowering telling of a journey to healing. (Graphic fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2024
ISBN: 9781553799245
Page Count: 64
Publisher: HighWater Press
Review Posted Online: Dec. 6, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2024
PERSPECTIVES
There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head.
The finely drawn characters capture readers’ attention in this debut.
Autumn and Phineas, nicknamed Finny, were born a week apart; their mothers are still best friends. Growing up, Autumn and Finny were like peas in a pod despite their differences: Autumn is “quirky and odd,” while Finny is “sweet and shy and everyone like[s] him.” But in eighth grade, Autumn and Finny stop being friends due to an unexpected kiss. They drift apart and find new friends, but their friendship keeps asserting itself at parties, shared holiday gatherings and random encounters. In the summer after graduation, Autumn and Finny reconnect and are finally ready to be more than friends. But on August 8, everything changes, and Autumn has to rely on all her strength to move on. Autumn’s coming-of-age is sensitively chronicled, with a wide range of experiences and events shaping her character. Even secondary characters are well-rounded, with their own histories and motivations.
There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head. (Fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: April 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4022-7782-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
A heavy read about the harsh realities of tragedy and their effects on those left behind.
In this companion novel to 2013’s If He Had Been With Me, three characters tell their sides of the story.
Finn’s narrative starts three days before his death. He explores the progress of his unrequited love for best friend Autumn up until the day he finally expresses his feelings. Finn’s story ends with his tragic death, which leaves his close friends devastated, unmoored, and uncertain how to go on. Jack’s section follows, offering a heartbreaking look at what it’s like to live with grief. Jack works to overcome the anger he feels toward Sylvie, the girlfriend Finn was breaking up with when he died, and Autumn, the girl he was preparing to build his life around (but whom Jack believed wasn’t good enough for Finn). But when Jack sees how Autumn’s grief matches his own, it changes their understanding of one another. Autumn’s chapters trace her life without Finn as readers follow her struggles with mental health and balancing love and loss. Those who have read the earlier book will better connect with and feel for these characters, particularly since they’ll have a more well-rounded impression of Finn. The pain and anger is well written, and the novel highlights the most troublesome aspects of young adulthood: overconfidence sprinkled with heavy insecurities, fear-fueled decisions, bad communication, and brash judgments. Characters are cued white.
A heavy read about the harsh realities of tragedy and their effects on those left behind. (author’s note, content warning) (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781728276229
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
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