Book Review by Andrew Evans aka the Pickleball Librarian
American Indian Youth Literature and Morris Award-winning author of basketball novel “Rez Ball” Byron Graves returns with another riveting sports book. It’s about Bryce, a young Ojibwe teenager still adjusting to life without his dad and a mother who gets into abusive relationships. I started reading as I sat down to have lunch at a nearby restaurant and quickly learned this isn’t the book to read in a public place.
Something about Graves’ writing gives me the feels. The author captures family relationships and pain and grief so well! Immediately, I recall my own similar experiences the main character Bryce went through by being raised by a single parent. The constant moving makes it hard to make and keep friends. In the next chapter, the shit gets even more real.
Even though I never experienced what Bryce did, I was touched when he whispered “I promised to never do that again,” and then his friend put his arm around him. That’s real unconditional friendship. The feeling of despair the main character went through, and then the support he received almost brought tears to my eyes. It’s time to leave the restaurant! I’ll read this when nobody is around.
Bryce started off his summer by being reunited with the area where he grew up. This includes his friends and grandparents. You can see what a difference a support system and community makes in a young person’s life. The characters are so authentic from the helpful lesbian couple who cheer for all their friends to the antagonist who has something in common with Bryce and occasionally shows moments of weakness.
Bryce’s late dad was a skateboarding champion and his friends Robbie and Mikayla also skate. Bryce decided to try skateboarding and finds more than he expected! Graves explained, “As he learns and develops his skateboarding skills, he finds the same escape that I found, that every skateboarder must feel. A mental landscape that is free and clear. A place that pauses the world, temporarily creating a space where nothing else exists, except for the feeling of the wind in your hair. Skateboarding becomes everything to Bryce. As he adds experience and skills, it boosts his self-esteem. Bryce’s summer becomes one of familiar places, surrounded by caring, family, and friends who he grew up with.” Bryce finds himself!
The process of learning how to skateboard and the sports action are realistic. Graves told me he didn’t want to be a “poseur” and learned how to do skateboard. “It was easily the hardest (and most painful) experience of my life. But it gave me a ton of insights into what Bryce would be thinking and feeling along the way. It gave an authenticity to the story that I otherwise wouldn’t have been able to imagine. Now I’m in love with skateboarding, it’s my meditation time.” Skateboarding heals!
A glossary in the back provides the meaning of various skateboarding terms and Ojibwe words. Graves goes into detail when Bryce is working on a new skateboard trick. Graves starts by providing the name for the trick. That allows the reader without much skateboarding experience to look it up online and visually see the trick. At one point in the book, Bryce is looking at a video and says, “The girl in the clip I was watching, made it look so sick.” I realize I was probably watching the exact same clip. It’s like the author knows what the reader would do!
Pop culture and Rez life is woven into the story. The language used and interaction between the characters are realistic. Detailed descriptions of Rez life captures despair and the continuous exploitation of indigenous peoples when it comes to the oil pipeline. Oftentimes, I wish I was in the same room with them fighting for the underdog.
In the author’s note, Graves writes, “We are defiant and resilient and have been fighting for five hundred years to stay alive, to maintain and protect our languages, our rituals, and our land. The proposed pipeline and infringement of treaties and Native American rights shown in Medicine Wheels shows how fucking hard and unfair it is just to be an Indigenous teen already dealing with a thousand challenges.”
I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in skateboarding or indigenous culture. It’s an excellent sports novel. This is also a great book for young adults and adults dealing with difficult times.
Another one of my favorite YA authors is John Green. In the book, someone said to Bryce, “You’re the Indigenous Tony Hawk. For real. You got this good in one summer? Think where you’ll be next year.” Byron Graves is the indigenous John Green! For real. And each book gets better! I can’t wait to read the next book. Graves is that good!
