The Marrow Thieves - Book Club Set

Sep 22, 2026

Book Club Set materials centered on Cherie Dimaline’s YA novel The Marrow Thieves. The text highlights the author’s accolades and later works, then focuses on her personal and community-rooted storytelling background. It explains her Metis Nation of Ontario affiliation, traces family genealogy through generations, and recounts place-based Indigenous and French narratives, including supernatural wolf legends tied to the Loup Lafontaine and related regional festival traditions.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryStory & Novel

FormatPDF

Pages13

Reading Time20 min

AccessFree to download

About the Author

Cherie Dimaline and Recognition

Community Identity and Family Genealogy

Wolf Legends and Festival du Loup

Book Club Set The Marrow Thieves By Cherie Dimaline About the Author Cherie Dimaline's 2017 book, The Marrow Thieves was declared by TIME magazine, one of the Best YA Books of All Time. This international bestseller has won the Governor General’s Award and the prestigious Kirkus Prize for Young Readers, and was named a Book of the Year on numerous lists including the National Public Radio, the School Library Journal, the New York Public Library, the Globe and Mail, and the CBC. Her novel Empire of Wild (Random House Canada, William Morrow US, Weiden and Nicolson UK) became an instant Canadian bestseller and was named Indigo's \#1 Best Book of 2019. It was featured in The New York Times, the New Yorker, GOOP, and the Chicago Review of Books among others. Hunting By Stars (Abrams US and Penguin Canada), the hotly anticipated sequel to The Marrow Thieves, was a 2022 American Indian Library Association Honor Book. Cherie lives in her home territory where she is a registered and active member of the Georgian Bay Métis Community. She is currently writing for television and screen. The much anticipated witchy novel VENCO (Random House, Canada; William Morrow, US) hits stores in February 2023 and has already been optioned by AMC Studio and Network. Who She is: “WHERE MY STORIES COME FROM, WHICH IS TO SAY, WHO I AM I am a registered and claimed member of the Metis Nation of Ontario ([www.metisnation.org](www.metisnation.org)), the federally and provincially recognized representative government for our community. Specifically, I am from the Historic Georgian Bay Métis Community with section 35 Indigenous rights. My mother, aunts and uncles, siblings, children and cousins are all registered and claimed members. But I want to talk about the specificity of my stories outside of the categories and designations and instead, from a community standpoint. My Mere (grandmother) Edna Dusome, was a member of the Georgian Bay Metis Community. She was born in 1913 and passed away in 2005 after raising me alongside my parents. I talk about her a lot in my work and most of my stories come from her, in one way or another. Her mother was Henrietta Patterson-Boucher-Trudeau-Beausoleil (DOD 1962) . Henrietta (or Hattie as she was known) was raised by her aunt/godmother Olive Beausoleil and her uncle Isadore Dusome, both community members, but her birth parents were Cecile Beausoleil and (Charles) Benjamin Trudeau, also both community members. Henrietta’s mother, Cecile Beausoleil, was the daughter of Alexie Beausoleil and Olive Giroux. Alexis was one of the “halfbreed” signatories on the 1840 Penetanguishene Petition ( [http://www.metismuseum.ca/resource.php/14577](http://www.metismuseum.ca/resource.php/14577)) . Olive was French. Henrietta’s father died in Sault Ste. Marie in 1928 and was the son of Louis Trudeau (son of Jean Baptiste Trudeau and Angelique Papanaatianencoe, Anishnaabe) and Marie Parisien (the daughter of Jacques Parisien and Marie LaFramboise, Anishnaabe) . My grandfather, Fred Dusome, also a member of the Georgian Bay Metis Community, was less constant in my life but is an important part of who I am. He was a fisherman and a guide on the Georgian Bay and his parents were Joseph Dusome and Philomene Secord. Philomene’s parents were Sophie Beausoleil (from a “French Breed” family on the 1901 census) and Benjamin Secord (the halfbreed son of Simon Secord and his Anishnaabe wife Marguerite) . Joseph Dusome’s father was Frederic Dusome (son of Francis Dusome, halfbreed, born in Red River, Manitoba who passed away in Penetanguishene in 1906, and Elizabeth Giroux, who’s mother Charlotte was listed in the 1836 Michigan Halfbreed Census and was descended from the Mentosaky’s of Lacdu Flambeau. ) Of my mother’s four grandparents, only her maternal grandfather was not genealogically connected to the Indigenous community (Scottish) though he raised Indigenous children. My father is French and Scottish Canadian from a military

FAQs

What book is this set centered on?

The materials are centered on Cherie Dimaline’s YA novel The Marrow Thieves.

What notable awards and recognition has Cherie Dimaline received?

The text states the book was declared by TIME as one of the Best YA Books of All Time, and that it won the Governor General’s Award and the Kirkus Prize for Young Readers.

How does the author describe the sources of her stories?

She emphasizes her community standpoint and personal family history, tracing her Metis Nation of Ontario ties and describing how many stories come from family members and archival connections.

Sep 22, 2026

Uploaded by Caleb Sterling