November Banned Book Club

Join us in Downers Grove for our monthly Banned Book Club! Our next meeting will be held on Thursday, November 19th at 6:00 pm, and we will be discussing two incredible books:

Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley and

An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States for Young People by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz adapted by Jean Mendoza and Debbie Reese.

This will be a free event, but we highly encourage the purchase of the monthly book from our store. Please note that the author will not be present at this event.

Firekeeper's Daughter:

A groundbreaking thriller about a Native teen who must root out the corruption in her community, perfect for readers of Angie Thomas and Tommy Orange.

Eighteen-year-old Daunis Fontaine has never quite fit in, both in her hometown and on the nearby Ojibwe reservation. She dreams of a fresh start at college, but when family tragedy strikes, Daunis puts her future on hold to look after her fragile mother. The only bright spot is meeting Jamie, the charming new recruit on her brother Levi’s hockey team.

Yet even as Daunis falls for Jamie, she senses the dashing hockey star is hiding something. Everything comes to light when Daunis witnesses a shocking murder, thrusting her into an FBI investigation of a lethal new drug.

Reluctantly, Daunis agrees to go undercover, drawing on her knowledge of chemistry and Ojibwe traditional medicine to track down the source. But the search for truth is more complicated than Daunis imagined, exposing secrets and old scars. At the same time, she grows concerned with an investigation that seems more focused on punishing the offenders than protecting the victims.

Now, as the deceptions—and deaths—keep growing, Daunis must learn what it means to be a strong Anishinaabe kwe (Ojibwe woman) and how far she’ll go for her community, even if it tears apart the only world she’s ever known.

An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States for Young People

Going beyond the story of America as a country “discovered” by a few brave men in the “New World,” Indigenous human rights advocate Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz reveals the roles that settler colonialism and policies of American Indian genocide played in forming our national identity.

The original academic text is fully adapted by renowned curriculum experts Debbie Reese and Jean Mendoza, for middle-grade and young adult readers to include discussion topics, archival images, original maps, recommendations for further reading, and other materials to encourage students, teachers, and general readers to think critically about their own place in history.

Angeline Boulley, an enrolled member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, is a storyteller who writes about her Ojibwe community in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. She is a former Director of the Office of Indian Education at the U.S. Department of Education. She is the #1 New York Times-bestselling and Printz and Morris Awards-winning author of Firekeeper's Daughter, Warrior Girl Unearthed, and Sisters in the Wind. Angeline lives in southwest Michigan, but her home will always be on Sugar Island.

Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, a New York Times best-selling author, has been active in the international Indigenous movement for more than 4 decades and is known for her lifelong commitment to national and international social justice issues. She lives in San Francisco.

Debbie Reese is an educator and founder of American Indians in Children's Literature (AICL). She is tribally enrolled at Nambe Owingeh, a federally recognized tribe, and grew up on Nambe’s reservation. She holds a PhD in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Illinois.

Jean Mendoza is a curriculum specialist focusing on the representation of Indigenous peoples in children’s and young adult literature. She holds a PhD in curriculum and instruction and an M.Ed in early childhood education from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.