Surviving the City - by Tasha Spillett (Paperback)

About the Book

Miikwan and Dez are best friends. Together, the teens navigate the challenges of growing up Indigenous in the city. However, when Dez's grandmother becomes too sick to care for her, the threat of a group home looms, and Dez disappears. Will Dez's community find her before it's too late? Will Miikwan be able to cope if they don't?

Book Synopsis

Miikwan and Dez are best friends. Miikwan is Anishinaabe; Dez is Inninew. Together, the teens navigate the challenges of growing up in an urban landscape--they're so close, they even completed their Berry Fast together. However, when Dez's grandmother becomes too sick, Dez is told she can't stay with her anymore. With the threat of a group home looming, Dez can't bring herself to go home and disappears. Miikwan is devastated, and the wound of her missing mother resurfaces. Will Dez's community find her before it's too late? Will Miikwan be able to cope if they don't?

Review Quotes

Engrossing... [this story] remains a tribute to the missing and murdered and a clarion call to everyone else.-- "Kirkus Reviews"

[A] haunting graphic novel... debut author Spillett and Donovan... present a story of girls growing up with the historical legacy of Canada's treatment of Indigenous people, particularly women and girls.

-- "Publishers Weekly"

Centering the strong hearts of Indigenous women and girls and shattering racist assumptions, Surviving the City is a beautiful, uncompromising honour song to those of us that not only survive the urban, but navigate through it with the courage of our Ancestors.

-- "Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, author of This Accident of Being Lost"

Nominated for the Forest of Reading's Red Maple Award

-- "Ontario Library Association"

Selected as an AIYLA Young Adult Honor Book-- "American Indian Youth Literature Award (AIYLA)"

Selected for 2020 Rise: A Feminist Book Project List, an annual booklist of the best feminist books for young readers-- "American Library Association (ALA)"

About the Author

Tasha Spillett, PhD, (she/her/hers) is a New York Times bestselling author, educator, and public speaker who draws her strength from her Cree and Trinidadian bloodlines. Tasha's work centers around the liberation and affirmation of BIPOC women and children. She acknowledges her unique opportunity and responsibility as an Afro-Indigenous woman to create learning environments that are culturally responsive. Infusing her teaching with cultural knowledge, Tasha supports and fosters belonging amongst BIPOC students and their families.

Tasha is the author of the award-winning graphic novel series, Surviving the City, the New York Times bestselling picture book, I Sang You Down from the Stars, and Beautiful You, Beautiful Me. Tasha weaves her cultural identity into both her trade and scholarly work focusing on issues affecting Indigenous women like calls for justice for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirit people. Her work is a continuation of the resistance against the legacy of colonialism and a celebration of the beauty and brilliance of her ancestors.

Natasha Donovan (she/her/hers) is a Métis illustrator originally from Vancouver, British Columbia. Her sequential work has been published in This Place: 150 Years Retold, Wonderful Women of History, and Thomas King's graphic novel Borders. She is the illustrator of the award-winning Surviving the City graphic novel series and Mothers of Xsan children's book series, as well as Classified: The Secret Career of Mary Golda Ross, Cherokee Aerospace Engineer. She currently lives by the Nooksack River in Washington State. @natashamdonovan