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3.5 

Rez Dogs

By Joseph Bruchac
Rez Dogs by Joseph Bruchac digital book - Fable

Publisher Description

Renowned author Joseph Bruchac tells a powerful story of a girl who learns more about her Penacook heritage while sheltering in place with her grandparents during the coronavirus pandemic.

Malian loves spending time with her grandparents at their home on a Wabanaki reservation—she’s there for a visit when, suddenly, all travel shuts down. There’s a new virus making people sick, and Malian will have to stay with her grandparents for the duration.
Everyone is worried about the pandemic, but Malian knows how to keep her family safe: She protects her grandparents, and they protect her. She doesn’t go out to play with friends, she helps her grandparents use video chat, and she listens to and learns from their stories. And when Malsum, one of the dogs living on the rez, shows up at their door, Malian’s family knows that he’ll protect them too.
Told in verse inspired by oral storytelling, this novel about the COVID-19 pandemic highlights the ways in which Indigenous nations and communities cared for one another through plagues of the past, and how they keep caring for one another today.

**Four starred reviews!**
Boston Globe-Horn Book Fiction & Poetry Honor
NPR Books We Love
Kirkus Reviews Best Books
School Library Journal Best Books
Chicago Public Library Best Fiction for Younger Readers
Jane Addams Children’s Book Award Finalist
Nerdy Book Club Award—Best Poetry and Novels in Verse

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62 Reviews

3.5
“<strong>fine? </strong> I like Joseph’s novels well enough. And this verse project was one of those cases where it just felt like the story needed to have been a middle grade novel. It didn’t lend itself to poetry, and it felt like there would be more room to explore the themes and characters had it been written in a different form As it stands, there was a lot under the surface but it was never expanded on and really unearthed. Mostly, I think, due to the limitations of the form the author chose.”
Anxious Face with sweat“Definitely not my cup of tea, mostly I don't understand why this should be "poetry" lol I was expecting a lot more, it seemed shallow.”
Diverse charactersBad writingUnengaging charactersUnsatisfying plot

About Joseph Bruchac

Joseph Bruchac is a highly acclaimed children’s book author, poet, novelist, and storyteller, as well as a scholar of Native American culture. He is the coauthor of the bestselling Keepers of the Earth series with Michael Caduto. Bruchac's poems, articles, and stories have appeared in hundreds of publications from Akwesasne Notes and American Poetry Review to National Geographic and Parabola. He has authored many books for adults and children including Code Talker: A Novel about the Navajo Marines of World War Two, Skeleton Man, and The Heart of a Chief.

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