A Girl Called Echo Omnibus

Combined Volume

By Katherena Vermette
Illustrated by Scott B. Henderson
Donovan Yaciuk
Series: A Girl Called Echo
Imprint: HighWater Press

Categories: Young Adult Fiction, Coming of Age, Aboriginal & Indigenous, Canada, Orphans & Foster Homes

Interest Age: 12–18
Grade: 8–12
Reading Level: Fountas & Pinnell Y, Lexile® Framework for Reading: HL520L
Show edition details

Paperback : 9781774920886, 224 pages, October 2023
Ebook (EPUB) : 9781774920893, 216 pages, November 2023
Ebook (PDF) : 9781774920909, 216 pages, November 2023

Read excerpt

Experience Echo’s entire time-travelling adventure in this omnibus of Katherena Vermette’s best-selling series.

Description

Métis teenager Echo Desjardins is struggling to adjust to a new school and a new home. When an ordinary history class turns extraordinary, Echo is pulled into a time-travelling adventure. Follow Echo as she experiences pivotal events from Métis history and imagines what the future might hold. This omnibus edition includes all four volumes in the A Girl Called Echo series:

In Pemmican Wars, Echo finds herself transported to the prairies of 1814. She witnesses a bison hunt, visits a Métis camp, and travels the fur-trade routes. Experience the perilous era of the Pemmican Wars and the events that lead to the Battle of Seven Oaks.

In Red River Resistance, we join Echo on the banks of the Red River in the summer of 1869. Canadian surveyors have arrived and Métis families, who have lived there for generations, are losing their land. As the Resistance takes hold, Echo fears for the future of her people in Red River.

In Northwest Resistance, Echo travels to 1885. The bison are gone and settlers from the East are arriving in droves. The Métis face starvation and uncertainty as both their survival and traditional way of life are threatened. The Canadian government has ignored their petitions, but hope rises with the return of Louis Riel.

In Road Allowance Era, Echo returns to 1885. Louis Riel is standing trial, and the government has not fulfilled its promise of land for the Métis. Burnt out of their home in Ste. Madeleine, Echo’s people make their way to Rooster Town, a shanty community on the southwest edges of Winnipeg. In this final instalment, Echo is reminded of the strength and perseverance of the Métis.

This special omnibus edition of Katherena Vermette’s best-selling series features an all-new foreword by Chantal Fiola (Returning to Ceremony: Spirituality in Manitoba Métis Communities), a historical timeline, and an essay about Métis being and belonging by Brenda Macdougall (Contours of a People: Métis Family, Mobility, and History).

Reviews

The A Girl Called Echo series represents a powerful re-storying of Métis history and offers an important resource for educators to bring learning to life in their classrooms. katherena vermette’s intentional writing and lovingly crafted world seamlessly blend timelines and remind readers that generational love and cultural strength echo through the past and present, and into the future. This collection is a gift.
Dr. Tasha Spillett, New York Times bestselling author

After the TRC, how do we invite rethinking of the rich story of the Métis in Canada for Métis youth in relationship to their kin—past and present, and to other citizens in this country? We tell an engaging, inclusive, and relatable story of family, love, and resistance that spans time, a story that is both truthful and hopeful for the future. Narrated by a contemporary Métis teenager, Governor General’s Award–winning author katherena vermette’s A Girl Called Echo is a re-righting of Canada’s relationship with the Métis on this land. Depicted in brilliant illustrations by Scott Henderson and colourist Donovan Yaciuk, its themes of relationality to land, to kinship, and to being and belonging will echo long after you have set it down. A Girl Called Echo offers a template for the transformative Canadian history that must be taught in all our K–12 public schools and post-secondary settings across this country. A story of the people on this land that we now know as Canada includes Métis stories tightly woven into its fabric.
Rita Bouvier, former Indspire Education Laureate and author of a beautiful rebellion

Graphic novel weaves time travel with real life for a compelling look at Métis history, belonging.
Windspeaker

Meet Echo Desjardins, a lonely and inquisitive foster girl who takes us along on her journeys to a distant past. Alongside Echo, readers will witness some of the most intense growing pains of a developing Métis Nation. I share the sentiment of Gabriel Dumont that the Métis preference was to be strong and good so they would always choose their rights over riches. The colonists did not share this sentiment, and readers may be both shocked and heartbroken at how the Métis people were treated. Motivated mostly by greed, the colonists made laws so they could take the land and the rights from Métis people. Driven to the west, the Métis made a last stand at Batoche. They lost that battle, but the spirit of our Métis ancestors lives on. We are still good. We still desire our rights over riches. Moreover, we aspire to achieve good lives. Thoughtful, compelling, and beautifully illustrated, this story should be read by all.
Beatrice Mosionier, author of In Search of April Raintree

The captivating stories and illustrations draw readers into the adventures where Echo time-travels into important moments of Métis history. An incredible collection.
Toronto Star

It is...vermette’s storytelling and the fantastic work of illustrator Scott B. Henderson and colourist Donovan Yaciuk that makes the series so special.
Vancouver Sun