He Didn’t Start the Fire

If you prefer less fantasy in your young adult literature, feast your attention on Where Wolves Don’t Die. The only magic at play here is how the story makes you feel.

WHERE WOLVES DON’T DIE |   9781646143818   I   $18.99   I   Hardcover   I   On Sale: 6/18

Ezra is a high school student in Minnesota, but his family is originally First Nations Ojibwe from Canada. He is pestered at school by a bully, and one day, they get into a confrontation that leads to the school administration and their parents getting involved. That same night, there’s a fire in the bully’s house, and his father and uncle are killed.

Ezra’s dad knows that people will assume that Ezra had something to do with the blaze. After the police investigate and agree that Ezra was likely not responsible, he is sent to spend some time with his grandparents, who live on the reservation in Canada.

When winter comes, Ezra’s grandfather takes him out into the wilderness for months to run a trap line. Survival is hard in the wild, and Ezra learns a lot about the natural world, his native heritage, and himself. There are some visceral, pulse-pounding moments where it appears nature has the upper hand, as well as tender and humorous instances of familial love and bonding.

This is a beautiful and moving story, but because it is couched in themes of survival in nature, North American native culture and mythology, and ultimately, a murder mystery, it will appeal to a wide variety of readers.