Pemmican Wars

Despite her low expectations for the first day of school, Echo did not think it would involve having flashbacks to Manitoba in the 19th century. But in history class, while learning about the M%C3%A9tis, the First Nations tribe from which she is descended, she finds herself on the Saskatchewan prairie witnessing a bison hunt. Each day, she is transported to the time of the Pemmican Wars between Europeans and the M%C3%A9tis, and curiosity about her own ancestry leads her to visit her mother in rehab. This brief first entry in the graphic novel series A Girl Called Echo shows much but says little, much like its protagonist: Echo barely has 20 lines of dialogue, and many of those are one-word responses. Instead, the volume begs to be revisited for its reliance on visual clues. Vermette%E2%80%99s scope is admirable as the story broadens from one of teenage social isolation to that of greater disenfranchisement and the search for selfhood. Ages 14%E2%80%9318. (Mar.)