Rabbit Chase

Anishinaabe culture and storytelling meet Alice in Wonderland in this coming-of-age graphic novel that explores Indigenous and gender issues through a fresh yet familiar looking glass.

Aimée, a non-binary Anishinaabe middle-schooler, is on a class trip to offer gifts to Paayehnsag, the water spirits known to protect the land. While stories are told about the water spirits and the threat of the land being taken over for development, Aimée zones out, distracting themselves from the bullying and isolation they've experienced since expressing their non-binary identity. When Aimée accidentally wanders off, they are transported to an alternate dimension populated by traditional Anishinaabe figures in a story inspired by Alice in Wonderland.

To gain the way back home, Aimée is called on to help Trickster by hunting down dark water spirits with guidance from Paayehnsag. On their journey, Aimée faces off with the land-grabbing Queen and her robotic guards and fights the dark water spirits against increasingly stacked odds. Illustrated by KC Oster with a modern take on their own Ojibwe style and cultural representation, Rabbit Chase is a story of self-discovery, community, and finding one's place in the world.

Author: Elizabeth Lapensee
Publisher: Annick Press
Published: 04/05/2022
Pages: 120
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.75lbs
Size: 9.84h x 6.85w x 0.32d
ISBN: 9781773216195
Audience: Ages 9-12


Review Citation(s):
Bulletin of Ctr for Child Bks 03/01/2022
Booklist 03/15/2022 pg. 58

About the Author

ELIZABETH LaPENSÉE (she/they) is an award-winning Anishinaabe, Métis, and Irish writer and illustrator whose work appears in Moonshot: The Indigenous Comics Collection series, Deer Woman: An Anthology, and more.

KC OSTER (he/she/they) is an Ojibwe-Anishinaabe comic artist and illustrator. They live in the Rainy River District of Northwestern Ontario.

Aarin Migiziins (Little Eagle) Dokum ndizhinikaas, Wiikwemkoosing, Wiikwemkoong ndo njibaa. (My name is Aarin Dokum and my Nishinaabe noozwin/Anishinaabe name is Migiziins. I am from Wikwemkoosing, Wikwemikong Ontario, Canada.)

Aarin was raised by his fluent Nishinaabemwin speaking family and community. He left home at an early age to live in Moosonee, Ontario, Canada and spent three years as a restaurant cook in an isolated Cree community. After a short return home to Wikwemikong, he moved to Lansing, Michigan where he has been living ever since. He shares Anishinaabemwin as a language consultant through Nokomis Cultural Heritage Center. He is grateful for fluent elders and active givers of what he considers the most important part of any culture--language.