A graphic novel retelling of Alice in Wonderland through the eyes of Aimée, a non-binary Anishinaabe middle-schooler might seem like an odd cultural mix, but it works. Aimée is going on a class trip with their school’s Indigenous Students Association to offer gifts to Paayehnsag, the water spirits known to protect the land. Aimée is harassed by some other students for being nonbinary and withdraws into games on their phone. Eventually, they wander off on their own into the woods, where they encounter a white rabbit (echoing both Alice and the traditional Anishinaabe character of Trickster/Jiibayaabooz) and are transported to an alternate dimension populated by traditional Anishinaabe figures.
The rabbit enlists Aimée to help dispel dark water spirits with the help of the Paayehnsag, whom only a young person can talk to. On their journey, they encounter an Anishinaabe auntie in a top hat worried about a land-grabbing Queen, a plant people threatened by the Queen’s evil robot army, and finally, the Queen herself. Aimée and their allies must fight the Queen in a laser-tag-like game to determine land rights—a real-world problem that had been hinted at earlier with the image of a bulldozer parked in a clearing in the woods.
Since most readers will know the end of Alice, it is not too much of a spoiler to say Aimée finally escapes the Queen. After doing so, they encounter a giant cocoon, which they marvel is “always transforming,” just like Aimée is. The butterfly that emerges from the cocoon tells them that is a beautiful way to feel and that they are very beautiful. Aimée isn’t sure about that, but the butterfly insists, “You would know if you looked.”
A final encounter with friendly spirits offers them further support as they head into a final showdown with the dark spirits that had been bothering Trickster. Without revealing too much more, I’ll just say that they ultimately emerge from the dream/journey with more self-confidence as well as a better sense that they are not alone.
Anishinaabe terms are used throughout the book, and many can be guessed from context; there is a glossary at the end as well. Anishinaabemwin translations are by Aarin Dokum.
Author Elizabeth LaPensée, an Anishinaabe, Métis, and Irish writer, has woven both European and Anishinaabe tales together to create something that honors both and yet feels wholly original. Ojibwe-Anishinaabe illustrator KC Oster’s images feel contemporary, but with muted palettes that evoke the natural world through which Aimée moves. Lovely and recommended.
