"Poisoning your own drinking water,
changing the air so much the earth shook and melted and crumbled,
harvesting a race for medicine." (pg. 47)

This is the world in which Frenchie is trying to survive in The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline,  After his father had gone with the Council to the Southern Metropolitan City, hopeful of enacting some change, and their mom passed, it was just Frenchie and his older brother Mitch evading the Recruiters, truancy officers seeking Indigenous people to place in their new version of residential schools.  Seems that, though all were highly impacted by the stresses of water shortages, climatic shifts and conflict, non-Indigenous people lost the ability to dream and sought out Indigenous Peoples for their bone marrow as a source for that ability.  What actually happened in the schools, though, was the stuff of rumours and nightmares.

While the environmental degradation alone could result in the dystopia of The Marrow Thieves, it is but a fraction of the agony of the world Cherie Dimaline has created.  It is a world that has gone beyond decline and into catastrophic collapse.  The heinous racism against Indigenous Peoples coupled with the carnage perpetrated against them is terrifying but not unfamiliar.  By telling this story in a dystopian world set decades into the future, Cherie Dimaline tells much more about the past.  Still, within that horror, there is a wisdom of self and others, a pocket of compassion and understanding that might be the only hope.
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"...running only works of you're moving towards something, not away. Otherwise, you'll never get anywhere." (pg. 217)

If you enjoy books about Indigenous Peoples and the environment, try these other books from the TAHS Library.

Hear the Wind Blow by Mary Downing Hahn is set here in the Shenandoah Valley. On a cold, snowy night, Haswell Magruder makes a decision that will have a profound effect on his own life as well as the lives of all those he loves. A wounded Confederate soldier appears at the family’s Virginia farm, and Haswell convinces his mother and sister to take the man in, despite the certain repercussions if the enemy Yankees were to catch them in such a “traitorous” act. Unfortunately, this is precisely what happens, setting off a horrific chain of events that leaves Haswell’s mother dead and the farmhouse burned to the ground.

​After leading his younger sister to safety with relatives in Winchester, Haswell sets out on his journey in search of his older brother, a Confederate soldier. His quest is also a passage into manhood, as he experiences the last bloody days of the Civil War.

If you enjoy Civil War stories set in Virginia, you might like the following books in the TAHS Library collection.

• Stonewall's Gold by Robert J. Mrazek
• Annie, Between The States by Laura Elliot.
• Ghost Cadet by Elaine Marie Alphin (Battle of New Market)
• Red Moon at Sharpsburg by Rosemary Wells (Battle of Antietam)
• With Every Drop of Blood by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
• Sarah's Ground by Ann Rinaldi
• An Acquaintance With Darkness by Ann Rinaldi (Lincoln assassination)
• Drumbeat; The Story of a Civil War Drummer Boy by Robert J. Trout.
• Charley Skedaddle by Patricia Beatty (Battle of the Wilderness)
• Shenandoah Sisters series by Micheal R. Phillips:

             Angels Watching Over Us (Book 1)
             A Day to Pick Your Own Cotton (Book 2)
            The Color of Your Skin A'nit the Color of Your Heart (Book 3)
            Together Is All We Need (Book 4)

• Shenandoah Valley Saga series by Andrea Boeshaar

             A Thousand Shall Fall (Book 1)
             Too Deep for Words (Book 2)

Nonfiction:

• Tragedy in the Shenandoah Valley: The Story of the Summers-Koontz Execution (Nonfiction) – Robert H. Moore, II. – Though Sergeant Isaac Newton Koontz and Captain George Summers had been pardoned for their theft of Union Army horses, their executions were carried out with no trial, no judge and no jury. This tragic yet largely untold story is finally brought to light. (Incident occurred in Shenandoah County.  There is a highway maker on Rt. 11.)  (973.7/Moo)

Blood Family by Anne Fine tells the tragic story of a smart, sweet child poisoned by circumstance as he struggles to escape the horrors of his childhood.

Eddie and his mother Lucy are locked away by her abusive, alcoholic partner Harris.  For three years, his only connection to the outside world is a collection of old video tapes of a "Mr. Rogers-like" character.  At age seven, Eddie and his mother are rescued, but his mother has literally been beaten senseless and Eddie is terrified that Harris will find him.  Eddie seems to do well with his kind foster parents and is eventually adopted by a nice couple with another adopted child, Alice.  Then on a school science trip, Eddie sees something that sends him spiraling out of control.

Interview with renowned novelist, Carnegie Medal winner, and former Children's Laureate Anne Fine.

Awards

• Shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal

Student-made book trailer

If you are interested in other stories of child abuse, foster care, adoption, and mental health, you might like to try the following books from the TAHS Library:
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Fiction

• Outburst by Patrick Jones
• Taking Sides by Patrick Jones
• Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher
• Chinese Handcuffs by Chris Crutcher
• Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline

Nonfiction

• A Child Called "It": One Child's Courage to Survive by David Pelzer (921/Pelzer)
• One Child by Torey L. Hayden (618.9/Hay)