Broken Circle

Kristin Butcher writes novels for young adults. Her most recent works
are Cairo Kelly and the Mann, The Gamma War, The Tomorrow Tunnel, The
Trouble with Liberty, and Zee’s Way.

Jesse is the product of a mixed marriage. His Aboriginal father died
when he was very young, so Jesse has lived his entire life in the city
with his Caucasian mother. However, now that he is 13, it is time for
him to learn the ways of his father’s people, and to that end he finds
himself on an unusual camping trip with an uncle and a cousin he has
never met. The three visit the secret site of a buried ancestral village
so that Jesse’s cousin, Jason, can complete a vision quest, his rite
of passage into manhood. While Jason isolates himself in order to
communicate with the spirits, Jesse has a vision of his own. Based on
assorted snippets of information gleaned from his uncle, Jesse dreams he
is a deer living hundreds of years ago. At first he is hunted by his
Wendat ancestors, but when he becomes friends with one of the warriors,
Jesse ends up helping save his ancestors from extinction.

Though the novel has Aboriginal history and culture at its core,
Dinsdale has worked hard to avoid stereotyping, so that his characters
are a more natural fit with the 21st century. Unfortunately, the vision
quest aspect of the story is a bit too contrived to be credible.
Dinsdale clearly intends the novel to be used as a didactic tool, and as
such it would make a useful supplement to a history unit on First
Nations peoples. Beyond that, however, its appeal is limited.
Recommended with reservations.