A Perfect Likeness: Two Novellas

Publisher's Description (Orca Book Publishers):
Celebrated author Richard Wagamese artfully crafts these thrilling yet vulnerable stories of two young men trying to find their place in the world. The volume brings together two previously published novellas by Richard Wagamese, Him Standing and The Next Sure Thing, with a foreword from author Waubgeshig Rice. Both stories follow the lives of young men who have dreams for a better future. In their search for fame and fortune, Cree Thunderboy and Lucas Smoke end up on paths where their biggest challenge is staying true to themselves. In Him Standing, Lucas Smoke learns the art of carving from his grandfather. He discovers that he is a natural; he can literally make people come to life in wood. But when Lucas is asked to carve a spirit mask by a mysterious stranger, he quickly learns that his skill with a knife could cost him his dreams. In The Next Sure Thing, Cree Thunderboy has two things he does well: playing blues guitar and picking winning horses at the track. Picking winners is just meant to be a means to an end—Cree's goal is to make his living playing the blues. He meets a powerful man at the racetrack who convinces him he can parlay his special skill with the horses into a shot at the fame and fortune he seeks.

Author Biography (Orca Book Publishers):
Richard Wagamese was a Canadian author and journalist. An Ojibwe from the Wabaseemoong Independent Nations in Northwestern Ontario, he published over fifteen books, some of them posthumously. He was was best known for his 2012 novel, Indian Horse, which won the Burt Award for First Nations, Métis and Inuit Literature in 2013, was a competing title in the 2013 edition of CBC's Canada Reads and was adapted into a 2017 feature length film of the same title, released after his death. Waubgeshig Rice is an author and journalist from Wasauksing First Nation on Georgian Bay. He has written three fiction titles, and his short stories and essays have been published in numerous anthologies. His most recent novel, Moon of the Crusted Snow, was published in 2018 and became a national bestseller. He graduated from Ryerson University’s journalism program in 2002 and spent the bulk of his journalism career at CBC, most recently as host of Up North, the afternoon radio program for northern Ontario. He lives in Sudbury with his wife and two sons.

Resource type: Book (Fiction)

Age recommendation: Grades 7-9, 10-12

Keywords: Indigenous futurity, coming of age, horse racing, carving, art, Spirit, nature, young Indigenous artists, Indigenous manhood

Year of publication: 2021

Publisher information: Orca Book Publishers