Where Wolves Don't Die - by Anton Treuer

Book Synopsis

Best of the Year: NYPL - Chicago Public Library - American Indians in Children's Literature

Ezra Cloud hates living in Northeast Minneapolis. His father is a professor of their language, Ojibwe, at a local college, so they have to be there. But Ezra hates the dirty, polluted snow around them. He hates being away from the rez at Nigigoonsiminikaaning First Nation. And he hates the local bully in his neighborhood, Matt Schroeder, who terrorizes Ezra and his friend Nora George.

Ezra gets into a terrible fight with Matt at school defending Nora, and that same night, Matt's house burns down. Instantly, Ezra becomes a prime suspect. Knowing he won't get a fair deal, and knowing his innocence, Ezra's family sends him away to run traplines with his grandfather in a remote part of Canada, while the investigation is ongoing. But the Schroeders are looking for him...

From acclaimed author Anton Treuer comes a novel that's both taut thriller and a raw, tender coming-of-age story, about one Ojibwe boy learning to love himself through the love of his family around him.

P R A I S E

"Where Wolves Don't Die will lift you up and not let you down. Anton Treuer knows how to tell a gripping story and the suspense doesn't let up for a single page. Along the way you'll learn about Ojibwe lifeways, languages, sharp jokes, gentle humor, and how to keep romantic love alive from youth to old age. I couldn't put this book down until I'd finished it, and then, I could not forget it."
-Louise Erdrich, Pulitzer Prize Winner and owner of Birchbark Books

"I am in awe, crying and smiling at the same time. Where Wolves Don't Die is a love letter to our Ancestors. This beautiful story is full of cultural teachings and characters so familiar that I'm pretty sure we're related."
-Angeline Boulley, #1 NYT bestselling author of Firekeeper's Daughter

"It is quite likely that I will never stop reading Where Wolves Don't Die. First of all, it's an excellent piece of writing, and second of all, each time that I would read through one section I would want to go back and read that section or another one over again. I enjoyed the writing so much because the author's thoughts reflected mine in terms of what I knew my life to be and what I had hoped could have been. I think it is one of the best pieces of writing I have ever read."
-The Hon. Senator Murray Sinclair, Chair of Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission

"A nuanced adventure centering family and growth."
-Kirkus

"Where Wolves Don't Die gives voice to all of us who survived residential boarding school, visibility to all of us who love and live our language and culture, and hope to all good humans who quest for healing, connection, and love. Everyone should read this."
-Dennis Jones, Nigigoonsiminikaaning First Nation Elder and Retired Instructor of Ojibwe, University of Minnesota and residential school survivor

"Where Wolves Don't Die will immerse you in the northern wilderness more completely than Hatchet, rivet you to a storyline faster than a Harry Potter book, and transport you into Indigenous culture more authentically and compellingly than anything in print. This is the best book I have ever read."
-Charles Grolla, author of Binesi-dibaajimowinan: Ojibwe Bird Stories and Makazinataagewin: Ojibwe Style Moccasin Game

"I have never read a book that so authentically portrayed the yearning we all feel for our culture, ancestors, families, and communities. Where Wolves Don't Die had me laughing out loud, staying up late to absorb one chapter after another, and crying buckets of unrestrained joy. It left me proud to be Indian and so happy to be alive."
-Chrissy Downwind, Vice President of American Indian Student Success & Campus Diversity Officer, American Indian Resource Center, Bemidji State University

Review Quotes

"A nuanced adventure centering family and growth." - Kirkus

"An intimate tale of community, connection, and a long history of mistreatment and perseverance of Native peoples." - Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

"I am in awe, crying and smiling at the same time. Where Wolves Don't Die is a love letter to our Ancestors. This beautiful story is full of cultural teachings and characters so familiar that I'm pretty sure we're related." - Angeline Boulley, #1 NYT bestselling author of Firekeeper's Daughter

"Introspective and compelling." - Horn Book

"It is quite likely that I will never stop reading Where Wolves Don't Die. First of all, it's an excellent piece of writing, and second of all, each time that I would read through one section I would want to go back and read that section or another one over again. I enjoyed the writing so much because the author's thoughts reflected mine in terms of what I knew my life to be and what I had hoped could have been. I think it is one of the best pieces of writing I have ever read." --The Hon. Senator Murray Sinclair, Chair of Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission

"Where Wolves Don't Die will lift you up and not let you down. Anton Treuer knows how to tell a gripping story and the suspense doesn't let up for a single page. Along the way you'll learn about Ojibwe lifeways, languages, sharp jokes, gentle humor, and how to keep romantic love alive from youth to old age. I couldn't put this book down until I'd finished it, and then, I could not forget it." -- Louise Erdrich, Pulitzer Prize Winner

[STAR] "A great first purchase for all libraries, with a unique hero's journey." - School Library Journal (starred)

"In Where Wolves Don't Die, Anton Treuer delivers an unflinching yet healing story that showcases Ojibwe culture while exploring themes of forgiveness and reconciliation." - BookPage

"Intriguing." - Publishers Weekly

[STAR] "Treuer (Everything You Wanted to Know about Indians but Were Afraid to Ask, 2021) immerses the reader in Ojibwe culture in this suspenseful novel of wilderness survival... An essential illumination of contemporary Indigenous life." - Booklist (starred)

About the Author

Dr. Anton Treuer (pronounced troy-er) is Professor of Ojibwe at Bemidji State University and author of many books. He has a B.A. from Princeton University and a M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota. He is Editor of the Oshkaabewis (pronounced o-shkaah-bay-wis) Native Journal, the only academic journal of the Ojibwe language. Dr. Treuer has presented all over the U.S. and Canada and in several foreign countries on Everything You Wanted to Know About Indians But Were Afraid to Ask, Cultural Competency, Racial Equity, Strategies for Addressing the "Achievement" Gap, and Tribal Sovereignty, History, Language, and Culture. He has sat on many organizational boards and has received numerous prestigious awards and fellowships, including ones from the American Philosophical Society, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Science Foundation, the Bush Foundation, the First Nations Development Institute, and the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation. His published works include Where Wolves Don't Die, Everything You Wanted to Know About Indians But Were Afraid to Ask, The Language Warrior's Manifesto: How to Keep Our Languages Alive No Matter the Odds, The Cultural Toolbox: Traditional Ojibwe Living in the Modern World, Warrior Nation: A History of the Red Lake Ojibwe, Ojibwe in Minnesota, The Assassination of Hole in the Day, Atlas of Indian Nations, The Indian Wars: Battles, Bloodshed, and the Fight for Freedom on the American Frontier, and Awesiinyensag. Treuer is a member of the governing boards for the Minnesota State Historical Society and Waadookodaading Ojibwe Language Institute. He is actively building an Ojibwe teacher training program at Bemidji State University. In 2018, he was named Guardian of Culture and Lifeways and recipient of the Pathfinder Award by the Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museums.