M. L. Smoker

A young Lakota girl who'd rather leave the Rosebud reservation and her Native past behind and try to fit in with the other kids in her new school in Rapid City, South Dakota, finds herself cast into the spirit world where she must quest for four items in order to return home. It's a simple story with a familiar structure, but it is told well.

The spirit animals are drawn really well, but the people are fairly cartoony and some of the young girls in the opening sequence sort of blurred together on me.… (more)

Aiyana, a young Lakota girl, has recently moved off her Reserve with her cousin and in with her grandmother. Her grandmother wants to teach them the stories of the Lakota people but Aiyana just wants to fit in with the popular girls at her new school. While on a school trip, three of the girls she has been trying to impress dare her to climb a high bluff and take a selfie just as a storm begins. Just as she reaches the top, she is swept off and when she awakes, she is in a different land where nothing is familiar and she doesn't know how to get home. Fortunately, or perhaps not, trickster Raven tells her it is possible for her to go back but only if she can complete four tasks. It will take all her memories of her grandmother's stories as well as a lot of help from some friends she meets on her way to complete Raven's challenges to find her way home.

Thunderous is a graphic novel written by M.L. Smoker and Natalie Peeterse. The story is well-written and with plenty of adventure to keep a young reader, or an old one, entertained. But it also provides some important lessons about family and heritage as well as the difficulties facing young Indigenous children who leave the Reserve for school - does fitting in to this new culture mean leaving behind your past and all the cultural riches it provides.

The art is by Dale Ray Deforest and it is gorgeous. Done in full vibrant colours, it is a perfect complement to the story.

Thunderous is aimed at a young audience between 8 and 12 but I would suggest younger children and even those way past the _target audience would enjoy it. I not only recommend it highly but would suggest it should be available in all school libraries and not just in the US.

Thanks to Edelweiss+ and Dynamite Entertainment for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review… (more)