Rez Dogs by Joseph Bruchac (review)

When COVID lockdown hits, Malian is away from her Boston home staying with her grandparents on the reservation, and what was intended to be a brief visit turns into a longer stay. Spotty internet makes it difficult to keep up with her eighth grade online class, but she's learning plenty from Grampa Roy and Grandma Frances, who tell her stories about Wabanaki history and more recent, more oppressive treatment of Native Americans and Malian's own family. She also makes a friend of Malsum, a rez dog, who wanders freely but has chosen Malian's family, and who becomes her lockdown friend and protector. Bruchac's easygoing free verse creates a thoughtful tempo for Malian's quarantine experience, where the unhurried life with her grandparents seems like a norm that's suddenly become a necessity. It's utterly believable that such a time would occasion storytelling, and the tales are spare and effective, never overbalancing the present-day narrative but effectively enlightening Malian about some past injustices, ranging from forced sterilization of Native women to the removal of Indigenous children for adoption in white families. Malsum is a metaphor as well as a companion for Malian, who sees her family as "three rez dogs in the city," but he's corporeal enough for plenty of pet-loving satisfaction. There will be a lot of stories of life under the pandemic, and Malian's is a low-key, accessible, and strong tale of how being cut off from the outside can emphasize bonds at home.