In March 23rd’s episode we’ll be discussing Dakwäkãda Warriors by Cole Pauls and A Girl Called Echo Vol. 1 by Katherena Vermette. Be sure to submit a comment or question! Your input might be read on the podcast (anonymously) AND you’ll be entered into our book club draw. You could win a copy of one of our selected books, and even some lovely jewelry. (Notes on how to participate follow the synopses.) Happy reading!
Synopses
Dakwäkãda Warriors by Cole Pauls
As a young person growing up in Haines Junction YT, artist Cole Pauls performed in a traditional song and dance group called the Dakwäkãda Dancers. During that time, Pauls encountered the ancestral language of Southern Tutchone.
Driven by a desire to help revitalize the language, he created Dakwäkãda Warriors, a bilingual comic about two earth protectors saving the world from evil pioneers and cyborg sasquatches.Pauls’ Elders supported him throughout the creation process by offering consultation and translation. The resulting work is a whimsical young adult graphic novel that offers an accessible allegory of colonialism. Dakwäkãda Warriors also includes a behind-the-scenes view into the making of the comic and a full-colour insert featuring character illustrations by guest Indigenous Canadian artists.
A Girl Called Echo, Vol. 1., by Katherena Vermette
Echo Desjardins, a 13-year-old Métis girl, is struggling with her feelings of loneliness while separated from her mom and adjusting to a new school. Then an ordinary day in Mr. Bee’s history class turns extraordinary, and Echo’s life will never be the same.
During Mr. Bee’s lecture, Echo finds herself transported to another time and place—a bison hunt on the Saskatchewan prairie—and back again to the present. In the following weeks, Echo slips back and forth in time. She visits a Métis camp, travels the old fur-trade routes, and experiences the perilous and bygone era of the Pemmican Wars. Pemmican Wars is the first graphic novel in A Girl Called Echo, a series by Katherena Vermette, Governor General Award–winning writer and author of The Seven Teaching Stories (HighWater Press).
How to Participate:
Step 1: get the book from your local library, bookseller, or seek an audio version online
Step 2: READ or LISTEN
Step 3: Post comments and questions on Twitter @book_women or @IndigenousLSA or directly on the Book Women Podcast website. We will discuss them during that book’s episode!
Get your comments in BEFORE March 20 to have your take included in the episode (to be published March 23). Plus, you’ll be entered to win some PRIZES!
