Are you part of a book club or are you looking to start one? Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice makes a great book club pick! A post-apocalyptic novel set in a remote northern First Nations community. As their tenuous links to the southern world wink out, Evan and his community learn to rely again on the old ways to survive. But a wendigo southerner arrives to threaten everything.
TIFA Interview with Waubgeshig Rice
Chosen as an Amnesty International Book Club Pick, you can find discussion questions here.
Follow the discussion on Reddit.
Educational Resource
York University has put together a resource for educators who are interested in teaching Moon of the Crusted Snow. The full resource can be found here.
Discussion Questions:
1. The novel begins with Evan hunting a moose. In what ways is Evan connecting with his Anishinaabeg identity when harvesting the moose?2. Have students reflect on what land-based knowledge means to them before reading the novel and after reading it.
3. On page 107, Justin Scott says that he knows how to live on the land. On page 124, Justin goes hunting with Evan, Dan, Isaiah and Jeff. Compare and contrast Justin’s way of living on the land with Evan’s.
4. Ask students if they know that all those living in Canada are treaty people. Have students reflect on how Indigenous land-based knowledge has been impacted by treaties.