We Are the Medicine, the third volume in the Surviving the City series, returns readers to a group of friends navigating life in the city as they approach graduation. Set against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic and the news of 215 children’s remains at the Kamloops Residential School, this graphic novel delves into the profound impact of residential schools on Indigenous communities. The story explores the friends’ reflections on these traumatic truths, their emotional responses, and their struggle to process their personal histories. While potentially triggering, when used in a supportive educational setting, this novel offers a powerful, personal, and engaging way for students to grasp the lasting impact of residential schools and the ongoing reality of racism faced by Indigenous Peoples. Additionally, the book is a narrative of healing, acknowledging the challenges that come with this process for all Canadians. Though part of a series, it can also be used as a stand-alone resource.

Cautions / Content Warnings: Topics include residential schools, death, violence, police brutality, and racism.
Other End Matter: Author notes, teacher guide
Images: Colour illustrations
Contributor Affiliation: Author Tasha Spillett (Cree), Illustrators Natasha Donovan (Métis), Scott B. Henderson
Bibliography: No
Index: No

Evaluator: Jackie L., Educator & Indigenous Voice Consultant, Indigenous Books for Schools

Tasha Spillett, PhD, (she/her/hers) is a New York Times bestselling author, educator, and public speaker who draws her strength from her Cree and Trinidadian bloodlines. Tasha’s work centers around the liberation and affirmation of BIPOC women and children. She acknowledges her unique opportunity and responsibility as an Afro-Indigenous woman to create learning environments that are culturally responsive. Infusing her teaching with cultural knowledge, Tasha supports and fosters belonging amongst BIPOC students and their families.

Tasha is the author of the award-winning graphic novel series, Surviving the City, the New York Times bestselling picture book, I Sang You Down from the Stars, and Beautiful You, Beautiful Me. Tasha weaves her cultural identity into both her trade and scholarly work focusing on issues affecting Indigenous women like calls for justice for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirit people. Her work is a continuation of the resistance against the legacy of colonialism and a celebration of the beauty and brilliance of her ancestors.

Tasha Spillett's profile page

Natasha Donovan is the illustrator of the award-winning Mothers of Xsan series (written by Brett Huson). She illustrated the graphic novel Surviving the City (written by Tasha Spillett), which won a Manitoba Book Award and received an American Indian Youth Literature Award (AIYLA) honor. She also illustrated Classified: The Secret Career of Mary Golda Ross, Cherokee Aerospace Engineer which won an Orbis Pictus Honor Book and an American Indian Youth Literature Award (AIYLA). Natasha is Métis, and spent her early life in Vancouver, British Columbia. Although she moved to the United States to marry a mathematician, she prefers to keep her own calculations to the world of color and line. She lives in Washington. www.natashadonovan.com

Natasha Donovan's profile page

Scott Henderson (he/him/his) is author/illustrator of the sci-fi/fantasy comic, The Chronicles of Era and has illustrated select titles in the Canadian Air Force’s For Valour series and Tales From Big Spirit series, the graphic novel series 7 Generations and A Girl Called Echo, select stories in This Place: 150 Years Retold, Fire Starters, an AIYLA Honour Book, and Eisner-award nominee, A Blanket of Butterflies. In 2016, he was the recipient of the C4 Central Canada Comic Con Storyteller Award. https://scotthendersonart.wordpress.com/

Scott B. Henderson's profile page

Tasha Spillett takes on a lot of important social justice issues in We Are the Medicine. It's a lot. But, just as they are issues that Indigenous people have been forced to experience historically and now, Tasha Spillett blends them authentically for these teens, who come from different places and narratives. Natasha Donovan's art sets the mood and honour[s] the characters in their diversity.

CanLit for Little Canadians