by Joshua Whitehead
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This book should be mandatory Grade 12 reading for Canadian teens (or anyone in a colonized country). Perhaps then more of them would be empathetic to the Indigenous, and understand how damn good they likely have it.
Crude, honest, ugly, and yet beautiful and endearing… nothing is pulled back in Joshua Whitehead’s story of a Two-Spirit Indigenous boy who ends up off the reserve selling his body to make ends meet. Whitehead portrays both the awfulness, and some of the lightness of our lead teen’s existence.
Jonny Appleseed has a clever set-up where we get a past story, then a current piece of the present. The present story is over 2-3 days as Jonny tries to make enough money to go home for a funeral service.
With short chapters, realistic dialogue, and hard hitting descriptions this is a story everyone should read. If only to remind you that it could always be worse, it is worse for so many, and that homophobia and racism are the stupidest, non-sensical human constructs ever.
I’m so proud this is a Canadian book, and will be placing this print copy in my personal library knowing it should be in everyone’s library as it’s the kind of book that only comes along once in a generation. This is the Anne Frank, Go Ask Alice for today, and everyone should read it.
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My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This book should be mandatory Grade 12 reading for Canadian teens (or anyone in a colonized country). Perhaps then more of them would be empathetic to the Indigenous, and understand how damn good they likely have it.
Crude, honest, ugly, and yet beautiful and endearing… nothing is pulled back in Joshua Whitehead’s story of a Two-Spirit Indigenous boy who ends up off the reserve selling his body to make ends meet. Whitehead portrays both the awfulness, and some of the lightness of our lead teen’s existence.
Jonny Appleseed has a clever set-up where we get a past story, then a current piece of the present. The present story is over 2-3 days as Jonny tries to make enough money to go home for a funeral service.
With short chapters, realistic dialogue, and hard hitting descriptions this is a story everyone should read. If only to remind you that it could always be worse, it is worse for so many, and that homophobia and racism are the stupidest, non-sensical human constructs ever.
I’m so proud this is a Canadian book, and will be placing this print copy in my personal library knowing it should be in everyone’s library as it’s the kind of book that only comes along once in a generation. This is the Anne Frank, Go Ask Alice for today, and everyone should read it.
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