Highly Recommended: A GIRL CALLED ECHO OMNIBUS

A Girl Called Echo Omnibus

Written by Katherena Vermette (Red River Metis)

Illustrated by Scott B. Henderson (not Native); Colors by Donovan Yaciuk (not Native)

Published in 2023

Publisher: Highwater Press

Reviewer: Jean Mendoza

Review Status: Highly Recommended

You might have seen AICL's positive comments about katherena vermette's graphic novel series A Girl Called Echo. I guess I should clarify that this "Echo" has nothing to do with the mini-series currently getting a lot of attention! I haven't seen it yet.

Vermette's protagonist Echo is a socially isolated Metis teen in what is currently called Winnipeg, Manitoba. She finds herself abruptly pulled against her will into key events in the history of the Metis -- events which involved some of her direct ancestors. She meets them, witnesses their individual struggles, and is just as abruptly transported back to her present. Her time travels carry her through generations of traumas and (often short-lived) victories. The past echoes in her. 

Gradually, in her present time, she makes friends at school. She connects with her seemingly tireless and caring foster mother, and prepares for her mom to come home from what appears to be an inpatient facility of some kind.

If you've appreciated A Girl Called Echo as much as I have, you'll be pleased to know that in 2023, Highwater Press published A Girl Called Echo OMNIBUS -- a collection of all four books, with some new informational material, evocative end papers, a foreword by Dr. Chantal Fiola, and a critical essay by Brenda Mcdougall. The timelines, maps, and other information from the individual volumes are also part of the Omnibus, providing important context for Echo's experiences. It's available in paperback and as an e-book. 

The Omnibus is a visually pleasing, "one-stop" resource for fans of Echo, for educators, and for anyone who wants to better understand the history of the Metis in what is currently called Canada -- and how that history can play out in the hearts and minds of contemporary Metis, like Echo and her family. 

Portage and Main has also published a teacher guide for A Girl Called Echo, created by Anishinaabe educator Reuben Boulette. It's available as an e-book or in coil-bound soft-cover. 

You can view excerpts of it on the publisher's Web site -- highly recommended!

With the success of A Girl Called Echo, it's my fervent hope that we'll begin to see more graphic-novel explorations of Indigenous people's history of what's currently called the United States. -- grounded in the present as well as in accurate representations of the past.

A Remarkable Headline

Typically, AICL looks at books for young people. Today, I (Jean) am inspired to do something a little different: a close reading of a headline about a book for young people. Its origin is Alaska's News Source, (KTUU/KYUS in Anchorage) September 17, 2023. Here's a screen shot, and the whole story is here. (To view the video, you have to wait a bit to skip an advertisement.)

Context: The woman holding the book in the photo is Nasuġraq Rainey Hopson. I met her when Debbie and I attended Loonsong Turtle Island in 2018. She's from the North Slope of what's currently known as Alaska. 

It's a remarkable headline for several reasons. Let's go piece by piece. And you should know that I'm learning as I go, and I hope someone will tell me if I get something wrong! The headline reads, 

Iñupiaq author and illustrator's book "Eagle Drums" sells out at book signing

1) Iñupiaq... That's not a word often seen in headlines where I am, in what's sometimes known as The Lower 48. Here's what the Alaska Native Language Center website says about it:

The name "Iñupiaq," meaning "real or genuine person" (inuk 'person' plus -piaq 'real, genuine'), is often spelled "Iñupiaq," particularly in the northern dialects. It can refer to a person of this group ("He is an Iñupiaq") and can also be used as an adjective ("She is an Iñupiaq woman"). The plural form of the noun is "Inupiat," referring to the people collectively ("the Inupiat of the North Slope").

So, the person who's the focus of the photo, the headline, and the story is from the homelands of the Inupiat -- an Iñupiaq woman. It's significant that the headline-writer didn't use a generic term like "Alaska Native." Eagle Drums is a specifically Iñupiaq book.

2) ...author and illustrator's...  Not only did Nasuġraq Rainey Hopson get her story published -- she also made the art for it! That's not unheard-of in child lit circles, of course, but it's still a bit out of the ordinary. And the pool of Iñupiaq author-illustrators is small indeed. There's a chance she's the only one. 

Check out her art and info about her other publications on her website, which features the covers of two anthologies that include short stories she wrote.

3) ... book Eagle Drums ... This middle grade novel came out just this month (September 2023) from Macmillan, which has also published Turtle Mountain Ojibwe author Carole Lindstrom's We Are Water Protectors (illus. by Caldecott Medal winner Michaela Goade, Tlingit/Haida). Here's what the publisher says about Eagle Drums:

A magical realistic middle grade debut about the origin story of the Iñupiaq Messenger Feast, a Native Alaskan tradition.
As his family prepares for winter, a young, skilled hunter must travel up the mountain to collect obsidian for knapping—the same mountain where his two older brothers died. When he reaches the mountaintop, he is immediately confronted by a terrifying eagle god named Savik. Savik gives the boy a choice: follow me or die like your brothers. What comes next is a harrowing journey to the home of the eagle gods and unexpected lessons on the natural world, the past that shapes us, and the community that binds us.

4) ... sells out at book signing. Let's sit with that for a moment. When a book sells out at a signing event, it's because readers have shown up for it. That's evidence of a demand for the material. For far too long, we would hear that there just wasn't a market for Indigenous stories told by Indigenous people. Non-Indigenous writers were the ones who could tell --and sell -- stories about Native lives. But as the headline suggests, people were at this event, eager to buy a new book by an Indigenous (specifically Iñupiaq) author, and to have her sign it!

Much more could be said about the event, about Eagle Drums, and about Nasuġraq Rainey Hopson herself, but I came here to share a close look at that unusual headline. 

Here's what the book cover looks like. Take a close look at the art -- it tells readers just enough about the story to invite them in. And I think it's gorgeous!

We hope you'll get your own copy of Eagle Drums, read it, share it -- and if the book tour comes to your area, ask the author to sign it in person!