“That old buffalo woman gave Nanapush her views. She told him that he had survived by doing the opposite of all the others. Where they abandoned, he saved. Where they were cruel, he was kind. Where they betrayed, he was faithful. Nanapush then decided that in all things he would be unpredictable. As he had completely lost trust in authority, he decided to stay away from others and to think for himself, even to do the most ridiculous things that occurred to him.”

This book wasn’t what I expected, and as someone who doesn’t typically reach for mystery novels (thank you to the Paperbacks & Frybread Decolonize Your Bookshelf Challenge for taking me here!) I’m so glad I picked it up. It was very uncomfortable to be in the mind of a 13 year old boy, but at the same time I am still reeling from the amount of growth readers get not only from the main character but from the complex web of community he is surrounded by. This is a book that will stick with me for a long time.