Gidjie and the Wolves

by Tashia Hart, Jonathan Thunder (Illustrations)

Gidjie is an Anishinaabe girl who lives near the shore of Lake Superior. Her best friend is an opossum. Her grandmother is an expert baker, traveling animal medic, and part-time bird.Join Gidjie as she embarks on a life-changing journey to uncover the whereabouts of her missing wolf aunt; prodded on by dancing foxes, a tiny man on a floating island, and unexpected friendships."Gidjie and the Wolves" is the first book in the Intermediaries, a middle grade series.

This book is full of illustrations by Anishinaabe Own Voices author Tashia Hart and is a 2020 Moonbeam Children's Book Awards Gold Medal winner.

192 pages, Paperback

Published April 6, 2020

About the author

Boozhoo, hello!

I’m an author, illustrator, and artist from the Red Lake Nation. My literary works include the contemporary romance Native Love Jams (2023), The Good Berry Cookbook: Harvesting and Cooking Wild Rice and Other Wild Foods (2021), the middle-grade illustrated book Gidjie and the Wolves (2020) and Girl Unreserved (2015), a fictionalized retelling of my own coming of age tale. My illustration work includes 3 books in the Minnesota Native American Lives series (2021); as an assistant illustrator of Gaa-pi-izhiwebak (2021); and Gidjie and the Wolves (2020). My short works include recipes, essays, poetry, and short stories. I have worked in Indigenous kitchen, and gardens, and have led foraging walks and have a biology degree from Bemidji State University. I'm a jewelry maker working in beads and birch bark and some metal work in the past. I live in Duluth, MN with my husband, son, and a turtle.

Author website: www.tashiahart.com
Instagram: @tashiamariehart
Facebook: www.facebook.com/tashia.hart.5
Twitter: @tashiahartbooks

Reviews

[Brittenany · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. I was looking for more literature from Indigenous authors and was so pleased to learn of this exchange.

Gidjie and the Wolves is an amazing book. It offers such a wonderful view of how we as people connect to living things on Turtle Island. It’s hopeful for me as I read this to my niece, that we can nurture this connection again. A great book to read for yourself and with young ones.

[Meg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this book with my 8 year old, who loved it! Definitely recommend!

[Mia | The Bookish Feminist · Rating 5 out of 5]

“The type of wound an animal has determined the type of medicine they require, as well as the medicines they create in their own bloodstream as they heal. The medicines animals create themselves are then passed along in the bloodstream to any offspring they have. These medicines are like stories of survival, passed down to make the next generation more resilient.” - Tashia Marie Hart, “Gidjie and the Wolves

Hart has crafted a stunningly sweet, perfectly magic world of Intermediaries, beings that have both animal and human characteristics but who hide their ability to adapt to the human world from humans because of the fighting and misunderstanding their existence caused in the past. Gidjie is a human living with her adoptive Intermediary Nookoomis. Her parents were adopted after Nookoomis found them in an abandoned Boarding School - a genius, subtle but poignant way to introduce this piece of history to middle-grade readers. Gidjie’s best friend, Carver, spends his non-human time as an opossum, and the story explores Gidjie’s feelings of belonging and identity as a human in a non-human world.

We get to venture into the underground Intermediary world, filled with shops and intricate systems of travel and communication. We see the power of youth as Gidjie, Carver, and others who have been called together after experiencing the same vivid, eery dreams, to form a council - group of adolescents who will be bound together as friends and teammates forever. They end up working together to uncover the mystery behind Gidjie’s missing aunt, and they learn about themselves, each other, and trusting their strengths and intuition along the way.

Hart spends a good portion of the book world-building, allowing us to see into all corners of the magic world, Nookoomis and Gidjie’s daily experiences, some of their backgrounds, and enough context for us to develop a deep affinity for and investment in the characters. I think this world building will be captivating and important for this age group of readers. Hart also manages to call attention to the critical issues humans are creating for the world, including pesticide-ridden fields, roadkill, fuel consumption and emissions, and disrespect for animals. It’s done in a way that isn’t demeaning but is instead built into the perspectives of the much more enlightened Intermediaries and Gidjie as a member of Intermediary society.

I loved everything about this and can’t wait for the next installment. We’ve gotten the background and a taste for the adventures and activism, really, if Gidjie, Carver, and their council, and I know that Hart will just take off from here. I’m so grateful to have read this magical novel. It’s the perfect kind of youth novel that makes you think and evaluate your own values and way of life without feeling weighed down and hopeless. This is exactly the kind of story our kiddos need to be immersed in! Congratulations on your first book in the Gidjie series, Tashia!

[Sheila · Rating 5 out of 5]

As part of Multicultural Children's Book Day 2021, I was gifted “Gidjie and the Wolves: Volume One of the Intermediaries” by Tashia Hart. It was illustrated by Jonathan Thunder and published by (Not) Too Far Removed Press.

This book is part one of an upcoming series about an Anishinaabe girl that is adopted by the Intermediaries, creatures that serve as a bridge between the human and animal world. Intermediaries can shift from human to animal as they are dual-natured. Gidjie is trying to find her place within her adopted world. Her journey is captivating as she helps free her aunt (part wolf) that is kidnapped. Hart’s work is delightful, magical and captivating from page 1.

I highly recommend this book for an adventure seeking young adults and adults as well. You will be transported to a magical world filled with unimaginable possibilities.

#ReadYourWorld

[Herman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Native youth YA story ages (to read to) 3-7 or 8 and up it was different unconventional I see the old tribal storyteller influences along with a feminist ecologist view all done in a childlike view of wonder an adventure of a human girl child in a world where she is part of a small tribe of mixed human-animal persona's dual nature being's know as Intermediaries, kind of like a native version of Alice-in-Wonderland, various strange and very imaginative creatures including a old Dough Ball named Bluebelle, do not normally read children books but this one was done well and is from a author who I really enjoy her work. If grandchildren ever appear in our lives this will be one of the books I plan on reading to them four stars. Short sweet and very cute.

[Alyssa Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a really fun middle grade that feels like fantasy but is easy to follow and teaches about ojibwe culture and spirituality.

[Oscar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dreamy, magical, and heroic, an adventurous journey that would inspire anyone to be an intermediary.