A good book is an immersive experience, an opportunity for the reader to get lost in imagination and explore a new world. A great book does that and more — it brings a community together to discuss, debate, and share in its wonder.
That is the goal of WestportREADS, which was created in 2002 as a way for Westporters to bond over a book and deepen the community’s engagement in literature.
The 2023 WestportREADS selection is Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley, the celebrated young adult novel centered on 18-year-old Daunis Fontaine, a Native teen who must navigate family tragedy, new relationships, and an FBI investigation to root out the corruption in her community.
Copies of the book are available for borrowing now at The Westport Library. Firekeeper’s Daughter is also available as a digital copy (e-book) and as an audiobook.
In addition, throughout the months of January and February, there will be events and programs centered on Firekeeper’s Daughter, including book discussions, celebrations, learning opportunities, and more. The capstone event will be held Thursday, February 16, when Boulley appears in-person at the Library to deliver the WestportREADS keynote address.
“We’re thrilled to celebrate Firekeeper’s Daughter as the 2023 WestportREADS selection and ecstatic to have her in the Library to deliver this year’s keynote,” said Westport Library Executive Director Bill Harmer. “Angeline is a master storyteller with a tale that will resonate throughout the Westport community and spark discussion and conversation in the way only a great book can.”
Boulley is a member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians and hails from Sugar Island, Michigan, located between the state’s Upper Peninsula and Canada. She served as her tribe’s education director and assistant executive director and on the board of regents at Bay Mills Community College before becoming director for the Office of Indian Education at the U.S. Department of Education, and most recently, a first-time published novelist at age 54.
Boulley told The New York Times that she first had the idea for Firekeeper’s Daughter in high school but didn’t start writing it until she was 44. “The story started out as a whisper and then it got louder and louder,” she told the Times.
The book is a #1 New York Times Bestseller and a Reese Witherspoon x Hello Sunshine Book Club YA Pick. It is being adapted at Netflix for TV with former President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama's production company, Higher Ground.
Among its many honors, Firekeeper’s Daughter was named a Printz Medal Winner, Morris Award Winner, American Indian Youth Literature Award YA Honor Book, TIME Magazine Best YA Book of All Time Selection, 2021 Kids’ Indie Next List Selection, Entertainment Weekly Most Anticipated Books of 2021 Selection, and PopSugar Best March 2021 YA Book Selection.
“Hitting hard when it comes to issues such as citizenship, language revitalization, and the corrosive presence of drugs on Native communities, this novel will long stand in the hearts of both Native and non-Native audiences,” raved Publishers Weekly.
Said NPR: “A contemplative exploration of existing between two cultural identities meets fake relationship romance meets backwoods thriller in this absolute powerhouse of a debut.”
Boulley’s father is a traditional firekeeper, which she described as one “who strikes ceremonial fires at spiritual activities in the tribal community and ensures protocols are followed.” She currently lives in Southwest Michigan but said that “my home will always be Bahweting (the place of the rapids) in Sault Ste. Marie.”
Past WestportREADS selections include The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab, Towards a More Perfect Union: Confronting Racism by Layla Saad, and Exit West by Moshin Hamid, among others. For more past WestportREADS selections, and to learn more about the annual event, visit the WestportREADS homepage on The Westport Library website.
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Firekeeper’s Daughter Companion Books
Preschool and K-2
Fry Bread by Kevin Maillard
We Are Water Protectors by Carole Lindstrom
Grades 2-5
Jo Jo Makoons series by Dawn Quigley
We Are Still Here!: Native American Truths Everyone Should Know by Traci Sorell (nonfiction)
Middle School
Ancestor Approved: Intertribal Stories for Kids (short stories)
She Holds Up the Stars by Sandra Laronde
Trickster: Native American Tales, A Graphic Collection
Author Angeline Boulley shares her novel, Firekeeper's Daughter, with Ramin Ganeshram and answers your questions. Firekeeper’s Daughter is the celebrated young adult novel published in 2021 centered on 18-year-old Daunis Fontaine, a Native teen who must navigate family tragedy, new relationships, and an FBI investigation to root out the corruption in her community.
Daunis Fontaine has never quite fit in, both in her hometown and on the nearby Ojibwe reservation. She dreams of a fresh start at college, but when family tragedy strikes, Daunis puts her future on hold to look after her fragile mother. The only bright spot is meeting Jamie, the charming new recruit on her brother Levi’s hockey team. Yet even as Daunis falls for Jamie, she senses the dashing hockey star is hiding something. Everything comes to light when Daunis witnesses a shocking murder, thrusting her into an FBI investigation of a lethal new drug.
Firekeeper’s Daughter was named a Printz Medal Winner, Morris Award Winner, American Indian Youth Literature Award YA Honor Book, TIME Magazine Best YA Book of All Time Selection, 2021 Kids’ Indie Next List Selection, Entertainment Weekly Most Anticipated Books of 2021 Selection, and PopSugar Best March 2021 YA Book Selection.
Community Partner: Westport Museum for History & Culture
IF YOU MISSED THE EVENT, YOU MAY WATCH HERE
Angeline Boulley, an enrolled member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, is a storyteller who writes about her Ojibwe community in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. She is a former Director of the Office of Indian Education at the U.S. Department of Education. Angeline lives in southwest Michigan, but her home will always be on Sugar Island. Firekeeper's Daughter is her debut novel, and was an instant #1 NYT Bestseller.
Ramin Ganeshram is the executive director of the Westport Museum for History and Culture. Ramin was educated as a journalist at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism and has spent her career researching and writing about culture and history as both a features writer and editor and through the context of food and travel. She is also a professionally trained chef. As a writer Ramin has written seven books and has contributed articles on historical America, immigrant foodways and colonial New York cuisine and commerce to the Oxford Encyclopedia of Food & Drink In America, Savoring Gotham, and the Food Cultures of the World Encyclopedia. Ramin has also been a peer reviewer for the Journal of Food, Culture, & Society. She has been a speaker at City University of New York, The New York Folklore Society, the American Library Association and others.
Firekeeper's Daughter has a riveting plot that has all the hallmarks of a crime thriller while simultaneously questioning all the assumptions that the genre usually makes about policing and justice. I hit the middle and then couldn't put it down. But Firekeeper's Daughter is so, so much more than a thriller or a mystery. NPR
Featuring prolific use of Anishinaabemowin (Ojibwe language), this wonderfully tribally specific story offers powerful messages about what it can mean to be an Anishinaabe kwe (Ojibwe woman): “complex and sometimes exhausted, but mostly brave.” Hitting hard when it comes to issues such as citizenship, language revitalization, and the corrosive presence of drugs on Native communities, this novel will long stand in the hearts of both Native and non-Native audiences. Publisher's Weekly
Angeline Boulley
Firekeeper's Daughter Book Guide
Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians
Firekeeper’s Daughter brings to light the impact of a traumatic experience, not only on one generation but on subsequent generations after the event. Join Deana Paqua, professor at Western Connecticut State University and teacher and practitioner of Cross-Cultural Energy Medicine, for a discussion and experiential workshop on legacy trauma, how it can affect us — cross culturally — in our everyday lives, and how we can begin to understand and heal its impact on us and our descendants.
Registration is highly recommended for this in-person event at the library.
Deana Paqua is a teacher and practitioner of cross-cultural energy medicine and contemporary shamanism, a licensed massage therapist and reiki master teacher in practice for more than 22 years. She is also an adjunct professor at Western Connecticut State in Danbury, Connecticut, and serves on the advisory board of the Institute of Holistic Health Studies. Deana has had the humbling honor of studying and working with Indigenous elders and healers from multiple tribes and traditions across the globe, in particular from North and South America, and Tibet.
Generational Trauma
Mental Health
Opioid Addiction
Join other members of the community in discussing the 2023 WestportREADS selection, Firekeeper's Daughter.
Firekeeper’s Daughter, by Angeline Boulley, is the celebrated young adult novel centered on 18-year-old Daunis Fontaine, a Native teen who must navigate family tragedy, new relationships, and an FBI investigation to root out the corruption in her community.
Daunis Fontaine has never quite fit in, both in her hometown and on the nearby Ojibwe reservation. She dreams of a fresh start at college, but when family tragedy strikes, Daunis puts her future on hold to look after her fragile mother. The only bright spot is meeting Jamie, the charming new recruit on her brother Levi’s hockey team. Yet even as Daunis falls for Jamie, she senses the dashing hockey star is hiding something. Everything comes to light when Daunis witnesses a shocking murder, thrusting her into an FBI investigation of a lethal new drug.
Firekeeper’s Daughter was named a Printz Medal Winner, Morris Award Winner, American Indian Youth Literature Award YA Honor Book, TIME Magazine Best YA Book of All Time Selection, 2021 Kids’ Indie Next List Selection, Entertainment Weekly Most Anticipated Books of 2021 Selection, and PopSugar Best March 2021 YA Book Selection.
“A contemplative exploration of existing between two cultural identities meets fake relationship romance meets backwoods thriller in this absolute powerhouse of a debut,” said NPR.
Copies of the book are available for borrowing now at The Westport Library. Firekeeper’s Daughter is also available as a digital copy (e-book) and as an audiobook.
Angelline Bouley
Firekeeper's Daughter Book Guide
Firekeeper's Daughter Read Alikes
Firekeeper's Daughter is a novel that ranges far and wide, encapsulating Native American culture, family tragedy, and also ice hockey, with much of the novel's action set around the game.
If you've ever wondered what hitting a puck into the goal feels like, members of the Wreckers hockey team will be joining us during the free skate at the Longshore PAL skating rink.
Members of The Westport Library staff will be there to share copies of the WestportREADS choice and information about other events. Please join us!
Hockey
Indigenous American Heritage
Celebrate Native American Culture
Join other members of the community in discussing this year's WestportREADS selection, The Invisible Life of Addie Larue.
Please consider joining the discussion on March 29.
A Life No One Will Remember. A Story You Will Never Forget. France, 1714: in a moment of desperation, a young woman makes a Faustian bargain to live forever and is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets. Thus begins a dazzling adventure that will play out across centuries and continents, across history and art, as a young woman learns how far she will go to leave her mark on the world.
Created in 2002, WestportREADS is designed to deepen engagement in literature by the community reading the featured book and joining in a book discussion and programs. WestportREADS is supported through a generous bequest by the estate of Jerry A. Tishman.
Community Partner: Westport Weston Family YMCA
Join other members of the community in discussing this year's WestportREADS selection, The Invisible Life of Addie Larue.
This event will take place at the Lucille Lortel White Barn at the Westport Country Playhouse (25 Powers Court, Westport).
In accordance with the Playhouse’s policy, all attendees will be required to show proof of full vaccination (in the form of a CDC Vaccination Card or a photo or photocopy of the card).
A Life No One Will Remember. A Story You Will Never Forget. France, 1714: in a moment of desperation, a young woman makes a Faustian bargain to live forever and is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets. Thus begins a dazzling adventure that will play out across centuries and continents, across history and art, as a young woman learns how far she will go to leave her mark on the world.
Created in 2002, WestportREADS is designed to deepen engagement in literature by the community reading the featured book and joining in a book discussion and programs. WestportREADS is supported through a generous bequest by the estate of Jerry A. Tishman.
Community Partner: Westport Country Playhouse
WestportREADS 2022
What do I Read Next?
Join other members of the community in discussing this year's WestportREADS selection, The Invisible Life of Addie Larue.
This event will take place at MoCA Westport (19 Newtown Turnpike, Westport). Please register.
A Life No One Will Remember. A Story You Will Never Forget. France, 1714: in a moment of desperation, a young woman makes a Faustian bargain to live forever and is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets. Thus begins a dazzling adventure that will play out across centuries and continents, across history and art, as a young woman learns how far she will go to leave her mark on the world.
Created in 2002, WestportREADS is designed to deepen engagement in literature by the community reading the featured book and joining in a book discussion and programs. WestportREADS is supported through a generous bequest by the estate of Jerry A. Tishman.
Community Partner: MoCA Westport
WestportREADS 2022
Fantasy 101
Fiction and Non-Fiction We're Excited About
This discussion has been postponed to the April 3rd event at the Westport Country Playhouse. Please register.
Join other members of the community in discussing this year's WestportREADS selection, The Invisible Life of Addie Larue.
A Life No One Will Remember. A Story You Will Never Forget. France, 1714: in a moment of desperation, a young woman makes a Faustian bargain to live forever and is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets. Thus begins a dazzling adventure that will play out across centuries and continents, across history and art, as a young woman learns how far she will go to leave her mark on the world.
Created in 2002, WestportREADS is designed to deepen engagement in literature by the community reading the featured book and joining in a book discussion and programs. WestportREADS is supported through a generous bequest by the estate of Jerry A. Tishman.
WestportREADS 2022
What do I Read Next?
Join other members of the community in discussing this year's WestportREADS selection, The Invisible Life of Addie Larue at the Center for Senior Activities (21 Imperial Avenue).
Please consider joining the discussion group on March 29.
A Life No One Will Remember. A Story You Will Never Forget. France, 1714: in a moment of desperation, a young woman makes a Faustian bargain to live forever and is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets. Thus begins a dazzling adventure that will play out across centuries and continents, across history and art, as a young woman learns how far she will go to leave her mark on the world.
Created in 2002, WestportREADS is designed to deepen engagement in literature by the community reading the featured book and joining in a book discussion and programs. WestportREADS is supported through a generous bequest by the estate of Jerry A. Tishman.
In this year's Westport Reads novel, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab, a young woman's Faustian bargain allows her immortality, but leaves her in oblivion until one person remembers her. Centuries ago, Dr. Faustus signed away his soul to the devil in exchange for eternal life, power, and perfection, thus creating the original “deal with the devil.” Explore literary "Fausts" through history with Dr. Emily Bryan, who teaches Renaissance literature at Sacred Heart University.
If you missed the event, you can watch the video recording here.
Dr. Bryan joined the Sacred Heart faculty after teaching at West Point, Dominican College, Northwestern and Brown. In addition to research and publications on Early Modern Drama, especially boy actors, education, gender performance, religious theater, women’s writing, and transatlantic networks, Dr. Bryan is actively involved in theater production, having worked for Shakespeare on the Sound in Norwalk, CT for over 10 years, as a dramaturg and director of education.
WestportREADS 2022
Fantasy 101
Fiction and Non-Fiction We're Excited About
