Echo Desjardins, a 13-year-old Métis girl adjusting to a new home and school, is struggling with loneliness while separated from her mother. Then an ordinary day in Mr. Bee’s history class turns extraordinary, and Echo’s life will never be the same. During Mr. Bee’s lecture, Echo finds herself transported to another time and place—a bison hunt on the Saskatchewan prairie—and back again to the present. In the following weeks, Echo slips back and forth in time. She visits a Métis camp, travels the old fur-trade routes, and experiences the perilous and bygone era of the Pemmican Wars.

MY THOUGHTS:

Pemmican Wars is the first graphic novel in a new series, A Girl Called Echo, by Governor General Award–winning writer, and author of Highwater Press’ The Seven Teaching Stories, Katherena Vermette.What a fantastic graphic novel! The artwork, is vibrant and so beautiful.

The illustrator, Scott B. Henderson, has done a fantastic job bringing to life the story written by Katherena Vermette by creating believable characters in fantastic settings. He is the author/illustrator of the sci-fi/fantasy comic, “The Chronicles of Era,” the graphic novel series “7 Generations,” selected titles from the Tales from “Big Spirit” series, and the graphic novels, “Betty and Eisner” award nominee, “A Blanket of Butterflies.”

The colour artist, Donovan Yaciuk has captured the feel of the story perfectly by using his colourist skills honed while part of the legendary Digital Chameleon colouring studio and during his stints with Marvel, DC, and Dark Horse comics.

The story itself is cleverly written by Katherena Vermette who is a Metis writer from Treaty I territory, the heart of the Metis nation, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. She won the Governor General’s Literary Award for Poetry and her novel, “The Break” (House of Anansi), won the 2017 Amazon.ca First Novel Award. She is also the author of HighWater Press’s “The Seen Teachings Stories (2015).

http://www.katherenavermette.com

Pemmican is the first Graphic novel in the series and I love it! I just wish it was longer. It’s geared towards middle-grade readers and is about a girl who doesn’t fit in, is separated from her mother for reasons unknown and living in foster care. I absolutely love this book and recommend it to everyone!