Firekeeper's Daughter

This stunning YA novel by Angeline Boulley is part mystery, part bildungsroman, and a powerful social commentary on indigenous peoples. Eighteen year-old Daunis Fontaine, our protagonist, is a whip-smart student of science and former ice-hockey star, intent on moving away from her small town and studying medicine at university. Instead, family issues keep her grounded in her hometown, close to the Ojibwe reservation. Daunis becomes embroiled in a murder investigation, liaises with the FBI, and becomes exposed to the dark underbelly of meth production and distribution wracking her community. She learns what is means to become an Oijbwe woman, and how to show up for her tribal community and to connect with her lineage. This young adult thriller is geared toward grades 8-12 or mature readers of contemporary literary fiction as it has some depictions of violence and drug culture. I would recommend this book for its themes involving morality, justice and equity as well as its exploration of tribal communities in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.