****Four starred reviews!****
From the U.S.'s foremost Indigenous children's author comes a middle grade verse novel set during the COVID-19 pandemic, about a Wabanaki girl's quarantine on her grandparents' reservation and the local dog that becomes her best friendMalian loves spending time with her grandparents at their home on a Wabanaki reservation. She’s there for a visit when, suddenly, all travel shuts down. There’s a new virus making people sick, and Malian will have to stay with her grandparents for the duration.
Everyone is worried about the pandemic, but Malian knows how to keep her family and community safe: She protects her grandparents, and they protect her. She doesn’t go outside to play with friends, she helps her grandparents use video chat, and she listens to and learns from their stories. And when Malsum, one of the dogs living on the rez, shows up at their door, Malian’s family knows that he’ll protect them too.
Told in verse inspired by oral storytelling, this novel about the COVID-19 pandemic highlights the ways Malian’s community has cared for one another through plagues of the past, and how they keep caring for one another today.
On sale: June 8, 2021
Age: 8-12 years
Grade: Grades 3-7
Page count: 192 Pages
ISBN: 9780593326213
Joseph Bruchac is a highly acclaimed children’s book author, poet, novelist, and storyteller, as well as a scholar of Native American culture. He is the coauthor of the bestselling Keepers of the Earth series with Michael Caduto. Bruchac's poems, articles, and stories have appeared in hundreds of publications from
Akwesasne Notes and
American Poetry Review to
National Geographic and
Parabola. He has authored many books for adults and children including
Code Talker: A Novel about the Navajo Marines of World War Two,
Skeleton Man, and
The Heart of a Chief.
Praise for Rez Dogs★ “Hidden throughout this moving novel in verse, old stories are discovered like buried treasures.”—
Kirkus, starred review
★ “Bruchac intricately interweaves past and present stories . . . in this rewarding intergenerational narrative.”—
Publishers Weekly, starred review
★ "Deftly handles weighty issues and provides readers a story they can connect with . . . [A] dose of hope for the future."—
School Library Journal, starred review
★ “Story telling is an important part of culture, and Bruchac is a masterful storyteller who weaves culture with narrative."—
School Library Connection, starred review
“With this gentle book, Bruchac offers children another story to expand their worlds and hearts.”—
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