Cherie Dimaline – The Hub

Amazing Audiobooks (#AA2023) Featured Review of Hunting by Stars by Cherie Dimaline

Hunting by Stars by Cherie Dimaline
Narrated by: Michelle St. John and Meegwun Fairbrother
Books on Tape | Tundra Book Group | Penguin Teen Canada
Publication Date: October 19, 2021
ISBN:9780735269705

In The Marrow Thieves we met French, an Indigenous boy on the run with his found family, trying to escape capture from the Recruiters and their re-opened Residential Schools. In the opening minutes of Hunting by Stars, French awakes inside a pitch-black room alone and in pain, and instantly knows that his run is over. Meanwhile, as French’s family on the outside searches for him, they face perils both known and unknown. Can French’s family find him before his resistance is broken?

Best Fiction for Young Adults (#BFYA2022) Nominations Round-Up, Winter

Each quarter, the Selected Lists teams compile the titles that have been officially nominated to date. These books have been suggested by the team or through the title suggestion form, read by multiple members of the team, and received approval to be designated an official nomination. At the end of the year, the final list of nominations and each Selected List’s Top Ten will be chosen from these titles.

Ace of Spades. By Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé. Macmillan/Feiwel & Friends, $18.99 (9781250800817).

Ambitious queen bee Chiamaka and loner scholarship kid Devon are the only Black students at school. That’s all they have in common until an online bully going by the name “Aces” starts spilling all their secrets. Chiamaka and Devon will have to join forces to bring Aces down—or lose everything.

Bad Witch Burning. By Jessica Lewis. Penguin Random House/Delacorte Press, $17.99 (9780593177389).

Katrell’s ability to converse with the dead has been earning her enough money to help her mom pay bills and buy food. When she makes a startling discovery about her abilities around the same time she receives a dire warning to stop using her magic, Katrell is faced with an impossible decision.

Barry Squires, Full Tilt. By Heather Smith. 2020. Penguin Random House Canada/Penguin Teen, $17.99 (9780735267466).

After watching a performance of Irish step dancers, Barry Squires decides he was meant for tap shoes. The trick will be convincing everyone around him to give him a chance.

Best Fiction for Young Adults (#BFYA2022) Featured Review of Hunting By Stars by Cherie Dimaline

Hunting By Stars: A Marrow Thieves Novel by Cherie Dimaline
ABRAMS/Amulet Books
Publication Date: October 19, 2021
ISBN: 978-1419753473

In a near future ravaged by climate and disease, some people have stopped dreaming. These people go mad or waste away, so the government has done the unthinkable: Set up residential “schools” where the bone marrow of Indigenous people is harvested for the dreams they still carry. Métis teen Francis “French” Dusome has been on the run for most of his life, ever since the day his brother sacrificed himself so French could get away. French survives in the wilderness with a close knit group whose members–including Rose, Miig, Wab, and Chi-Boy–are from tribal nations all over North America; together, they are family. So when French is captured, there’s no question that he will be looked for. But new threats bring new danger, and the group is forced to separate. Now Rose is desperately searching for French–and running right into the deceptively open arms of a strange new group. Miig is leading the others south–crossing the U.S. border where the line between friends and those pretending to be friends is very thin. And French is imprisoned in a place where so many of his people have gone to die–and about to face terrible choices that will harm those he loves no matter what he decides. Reuniting will require sacrifices, betrayals, and desperate bids for a survival that is anything but assured.

Best Fiction for Young Adults (#BFYA2022) Featured Review of A Snake Falls to Earth by Darcie Little Badger

A Snake Falls to Earth by Darcie Little Badger
Levine Querido
Publication Date: October 12, 2021
ISBN: 978-1646140923

Nina is a Lipan Apache teen in the very near future. Ever since her great-great-grandmother told an untranslatable Lipan story on her deathbed, Nina has been searching for answers. Oli is a cottonmouth person in the Reflecting World. Ever since his mother sent him away (as all cottonmouth mothers eventually do), Oli has been trying to make a new home for himself. As Nina learns more about the connection between her family and their land, Oli’s best friend falls dangerously ill. Now the cottonmouth boy ventures to Earth to seek the help of a human girl, and together they must turn the tides of change to protect those they love.

#QP2019 Nominees Round Up, December 4 Edition

The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline
Cormorant Books, Inc. / Dancing Cat Books
Publication Date: September 1, 2017
ISBN: 9781770864863

In Dimaline’s future world, dreams are as defunct as the ever-degrading environment–except for one group of people. Descendants of indigenous tribes are still capable of dreaming, and the government is hunting them for their bone marrow in order to bring dreams back to the white people. Frenchie is a survivor who has lost every member of his biological family to the hunt. It is with his new tribe of ragtag survivors that he begins to learn the stories of his people.

Continue reading #QP2019 Nominees Round Up, December 4 Edition