The Marrow Thieves

ISBN

9781770864863

Publisher & Publication Year

DCB Young Readers, 2017

Publisher's Book Page

Author

Cherie Dimaline (Metis Nation of Ontario)

Author's Website

Illustrator

Illustrator's Website

Synopsis

Summary

Humanity has nearly destroyed its world through global warming, but now an even greater evil lurks. The Indigenous people of North America are being hunted and harvested for their bone marrow, which carries the key to recovering something the rest of the population has lost: the ability to dream. In this dark world, Frenchie and his companions struggle to survive as they make their way up north to the old lands. For now, survival means staying hidden — but what they don’t know is that one of them holds the secret to defeating the marrow thieves.

A Indigenous dystopian novel that asks (and answers) “what if” questions Indigenous people have asked since colonization.

Notable Achievements

Winner, 2017 Kirkus Prize (Young Readers' Literature); Winner, 2017 Governor General's Literary Award (Young People's Literature - Text); Winner, 2018 Sunburst Award for Excellence in Canadian Literature of the Fantastic; Winner, 2018 Burt Award for First Nations, Inuit and Métis Young Adult Literature; Winner, 2018 Amy Mathers Teen Book Award; Finalist, 2018 Forest of Reading - White Pine Awards Shortlisted; 2018 CBC Canada Reads Shortlisted; 2018 Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children's Book Award Finalist; 2018 Trillium Book Award Selection; 2019 Global Read Aloud Selection; 2019 Amnesty International Book Club Selection; 2017 OLA Best Bets Selection; Time Magazine's 100 Best YA Books of All Time

Reviews

Kirkus Reviews: “A dystopian world that is all too real and that has much to say about our own.”

Link to Review

Educator Guide

This guide, created by Martha Brack Martin at DCB, includes key themes and summaries, pre-teaching preparation resources for educators, chapter questions, discussion questions, essay topics, and other activity prompts.

Link to Guide