Welcome to Litsy!

Next up: THE LESSER BLESSED, with Wesley, Cooper‘s big brother, assisting. I‘ve loved Richard Van Camp‘s short fiction whenever I‘ve come across it in anthologies, but this‘ll be my first of his novels. (It was also his first novel, period, and the first book published by a member of the Tlicho Dene.) I‘m excited. #canadadayreading

A passionate slice of northern indigenous life, full of desperate horny teens fueled by alcohol, drugs and all other sorts of traumas. I loved the adept style which moved fast clip slowing down only to occasionally dip into some beautiful poetic imagery.

I read this for the ATY challenge prompt #20 - a book featuring indigenous people of a country. I picked a small book for their prompt because I didn‘t see anything that interested me. For being a short book the characters were really well developed. I was interested in it as far as to figure out what happened to him but the book was a little too dark and edgy for me. #ATY2019 #aroundtheyearin52books

""If I could perform the autopsy on him," I thought, "I‘d steal his eyes.""

"There was a thunderous pounding on the door that shook the house, shook the room, shook my little black soul. My first thought: My mother has come to castrate me. My second: Jesus has come to collect. And my third: It‘s the cops!"

"This town sucks. I mean, if this town were a fart, I wouldn‘t even stop to sniff it. I‘d just keep on walking."

"I see a therapist who asks me to draw how I see myself. I hand in a picture of a forest. He looks closely, says there is no one. I say, "Look, there. I am already buried." There is NO a hundred million times on every rock, tree and leaf..."

"Let's put the 's' back in sin."

I've read most of the books on this list and I agree that it's a mighty fine collection. Some of my all-time favourites are included, like Richard Van Camp, Sherman Alexie, Jacqueline Woodson, Angela Johnson, Francesca Lia Block, and AS King. https://www.booklistonline.com/Booklist-s-50-Best-YA-Books-of-All-Time-Kraus-Dan...

THE BLUE RAVEN: middle grade comic about a stolen bike isn't in the Litsy database, so I've linked it to one of the author's other works that's set in the same fictionalized version of Fort Smith in the Northwest Territories. B&W art by Steven Keewatin Sanderson is serviceable, while the teaching story about the importance of family and community is very well done. #IndigenousVoices #nativebooks

Just started a directed study with a student, and this was our first read. Rereading it was such a pleasure -- it's a real masterpiece of YA trauma literature and one of my favourite works of Indigenous literature of all time. It deals with the legacy of residential schooling, internalized racism, sexual abuse, and violence. It's also funny and weird and dark and mesmerizing. You need to read this book. You will not regret it.

I adore this skinny book (119 pages) about a skinny Dogrib teenager named Larry Sole. Much like Larry, who hides big secrets inside his burn-scarred body, the story contains mysteries. Larry's humorous first person voice is just part of what makes this gritty story memorable. #nativebooks #IndigenousVoices