ted's book nook

• author: TJ Klune
• genre: fantasy, fiction, lgbt+
• pages: 394

Now, this book’s rating, or lack thereof, is of importance. I enjoyed it to some level, don’t get me wrong. The writing was quirky and cute, lighthearted, and dripped with positivity and joy. It had queer rep, which I always love, and a simple, easy going story that made it a quick read.

Two – is what I learned after I finished reading it. Apparently, this book was inspired by the Sixties Scoop, which is a topic too large and harrowing for me to get into right now, but in essence; 20,000 Native children in Canada were taken from their families and put into orphanages for the purposes of adopting them out to White families.

I don’t think I need to explain how horrifying this is.

This isn’t to say that I can’t appreciate novels that take inspiration from real life events, by nature we take from what we know, but when a Native trauma is taken by a White man and used to sell a book about non-Native characters? I find it hard to get past. I was, prior to this knowledge, interested in reading more, but I think I will find other cosy books to scratch that itch.