Bibliographic Information:
Title: Firekeeper’s Daughter
Author: Angeline Boulley
ISBN: 9781250766564
Publisher: Henry Holt and Company, New York
Copyright Date: 2021
Genre: Mystery, Drama, Romance
Format: Print Book/eBook
Awards/Honors:
Printz Medal Winner (2022)
Morris Award Winner (2022)
American Indian Youth Literature Award YA Honor (2022)
Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Young Adult Novel (2022)
Reading Level/Interest Level: Ages 15+
Plot Summary:
Part Obijwe and part French, Daunis Fontaine has issues fitting into her local communities: she’s too white to be in her father’s tribe, and too native to be considered especially local among the non-native in Saint Ste. Marie. After deciding to go to her local community college instead of the University of Michigan to stay near her mother and ailing grandmother (GrandMary), Daunis begins to focus on what could be the third thing. Deaths happen in threes, according to her family, and after the death of her grandfather and Uncle, Daunis is terrified of GrandMary being next. When new kid Jamie moves to town and joins her brother Levi’s hockey team, things continue to become stranger and stranger. At a party, Daunis witnesses the death of someone close to her, the third person to complete the cycle, but the one who sends her on a journey as a spy for the American Government. Will Daunis be able to find out the truth, vindicate her late Uncle, and prove that all indigenous natives like her friends and family are not caught up in some stereotypical scheme?
Author Background:
Angeline Boulley is an Ojibwe woman, a member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, and was at one point the Director of the Office of Indian Education at the US Department of Education. While Firekeeper’s Daughter is Boulley’s debut novel, it took her over a decade to do the research necessary to complete the story (About Angeline Boulley). While her background was in Native Education she is now a full time author who is passionate about telling indigenous stories like the ones passed down to her.
Critical Evaluation:
As mean as it is to say, it did take me a while to get invested into Daunis and her story: about halfway through the book to be honest. SPOILER ALERT: When Lily was murdered I was not too shocked, nor saddened, in fact it wasn’t until the very end when Daunis is dancing in red for other indigenous women who have disappeared, died, or been killed. I think Boulley does a great job of explaining a community that I did not know of, as well as integrating some of their language and the meanings of the words. The book created a window into a realm that I was not familiar with (I am familiar with meth usage as my hometown has a high usage rate unfortunately) and at first I was definitely confused as to why Daunis was texted like she had prepaid minutes until it was revealed the novel took place in 2004. As said earlier, I did get emotional at the end of the book, especially when Daunis told the truth about everyone involved, as well as when she danced in red in the last chapter for the women who were lost. While that was the only time I did get emotional (sorry Lily) I will say, I am not someone who gets emotional easily which was a win for Boulley.
Firekeeper’s Daughter may not have been a book I would typically reach towards or gravitate to when looking for book recommendations, but reading the story reminded me of many of the problems that plague indigenous communities (some of which I mention in the potential challenge issues section) as well as the beauty of indigenous communities and their relationships with each other (when the elders help Daunis get away from her kidnapper on the ferry comes to mind).
Creative Use for a Library Program:
This seems like the perfect time to work with the local indigenous community wherever I am working: for my current location it would be the Ohlone of the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area. I would like to hold a week of events where there are traditional stories told, the history of the community, and perhaps even lessons on different types of beading or artistry that is common for the community. I would encourage my patrons to think about the land they are standing on and living on and who it may have belonged to hundreds of years ago, and how part of knowing that is tied to respect as well.
Speed-Round Book Talk or Short Book Trailer:
Daunis Fontaine simply wants to hang out with her best friend Lily in community college, attend events on her father’s reservation, go for runs, and spend time with her grandmother, GrandMary. Unfortunately for Daunis there is a darkness lurking in Saint Ste. Marie that will soon envelop her. With a surprising murder-suicide that Daunis witnesses, and the undercover federal agents there trying to figure out how this all plays into a larger meth-driven crime syndicate, Daunis realizes that her fall semester is not going to be as academically focused as she originally thought. Now working undercover to prove her Uncle David wasn’t a meth fiend, that her loved one’s didn’t perish needlessly, and that she is native enough to be considered Ojibwe, Daunis is caught up in something that may drag her down into the darkest depths. So, will the Firekeeper’s Daughter stay warm, or will she be chilled to the bone by what she finds?
Potential Challenge Issues and Defense Preparation:
There could definitely be some challenge issues because of the fact that Boulley’s story includes scenes of rape, the cooking of meth, drug usage, and foul language. Here are the facts: Indigenous women are more likely to be sexually assaulted than any other population in the United States (McKinley & Knipp, 2022). Over 2.5 million people have admitted to using meth in the year 2022, and that does not include those unwilling to admit to usage (NIDA, 2023). In a study conducted in 2001 (around the time Firekeeper’s Daughter takes place) 52% of those who say they attempted to cook meth found it easy to do so (Valle et. al., 2001). The problem is, the issues that people may challenge actually do take place in real life, and therefore should not be hidden simply because they may make people uncomfortable.
Reason for Inclusion:
The keyword here is inclusion: part of being a librarian is curating a collection of inclusive and diverse stories, and Firekeeper’s Daughter is a diverse and inclusive story that deserves space on a shelf in a library. It provides significant cultural insight to an indigenous culture, as well as showing the mistrust between those communities and the American government (for good reason) as well as some of the issues that plague those communities (like meth usage). Overall, Firekeeper’s Daughter provides an inclusive story that may not have the happiest of endings, but is a reminder that not all stories to end happily ever after because it reflects real life.
References:
(n.d.). About Angeline Boulley. https://angelineboulley.com/about-angeline-boulley.html
McKinley, C. E., & Knipp, H. (2022). "You Can Get Away with Anything Here… No Justice at All"- Sexual Violence Against U.S. Indigenous Females and Its Consequences. Gender issues, 39(3), 291–319. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12147-021-09291-6
NIDA. 2023, December 14. What is the scope of methamphetamine use in the United States?. Retrieved from https://nida.nih.gov/publications/research-reports/methamphetamine/what-scope-methamphetamine-misuse-in-united-states
Valle, J.M., Ikegami, A., & Crisp, R. (2001, June 30). Summary Results From the Methamphetamine Lab Cookers Survey June 2001-December 2002. Office of Justice Programs. https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/summary-results-methamphetamine-lab-cookers-survey-june-2001
Comments