An enrolled member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, Boulley is the author of three YA thrillers featuring Indigenous girls and young women navigating a world that can be a dangerous place if one is Indigenous and female. Her most recent novel is Sisters in the Wind (Holt).
How does your previous career as an educator inform your writing?
I believe, once an educator, always an educator. I’m writing the stories that I wish my children and former students could have read.
How do you come up with your story ideas for the Sugar Island series?
I start with the natural element I’ve selected for each book: Firekeeper’s Daughter and fire; Warrior Girl Unearthed and land; Sisters in the Wind and air. Then, I ask myself, What issues do I want to speak to in the story? With Sisters in the Wind, it was that sense that these children and teens who are adopted or fostered outside of their tribal community are tossed to the winds. Do those lost ones find their way home?
You address some intense topics, such as rape, incest, suicide, and addiction. Are you concerned that educators might be reluctant to add your books to their collections because they might trigger young readers?
I would hope that any educator who’s even considering a soft ban would at least read the story first. I think what would be evident is there are unpleasant truths that many young people face—what better way to help those teen readers who either have gone through a similar situation or know of someone who has, than through the safety of the pages of a book? Nothing is presented in a gratuitous manner. I write with care and concern.
What do you want educators to take away from your presentation at NCTE?
My message that I speak about to every audience is that stories are good medicine; stories are powerful; books do save lives. The work that teachers and librarians do for our children and teens is so important. I wouldn’t be the writer I am if it weren’t for my parents, who instilled in their children a love of reading. We were never restricted to the children’s section in the library; we could check out whatever book we wanted. That is the power of reading, the power of story.
What’s next in the series?
We still have the natural element of water. I am working on my first draft of book four, involving oil pipeline protests, particularly because of the threat to the Great Lakes with these pipelines. If there were ever to be a spill, the water would be so toxic. What happens then?
