The Trickster Shadow

From an acclaimed Ojibwe artist comes a story that offers an empowering universal message about finding inner strength.

Zoon’s shadow is always in his way. It makes a mess of his room, disrupts his class at school, and trips him on the soccer field. Zoon doesn’t know what to do! Until he tells his grandmother about it, and she gives him his grandfather’s drum. Its rhythm is like a heartbeat. If only Zoon can listen to the drum’s song, and ultimately to his own heart, he may yet find a way to thrive alongside his shadow.

Pawis-Steckley’s striking, graphic art brings to vibrant life both the challenges of controlling our trickster impulses and the luminosity of ancestral and inner wisdom, paving the way for us all to listen to our hearts.

Mangeshig Pawis-Steckley is a multi-disciplinary Anishinaabe award-winning author, artist, and illustrator and a member of Wasauksing First Nation. He has illustrated several picture books, including Mii maanda ezhi-gkendmaanh / This Is How I Know by Brittany Luby and Sharice’s Big Voice by Sharice Davids and Nancy K. Mays, which was an ALA Notable Children’s Book, a CCBC Choice, and a Bank Street College of Education’s Best Children’s Book. Mangeshig spends his time living between Vancouver and Wasauksing First Nation. He invites you to visit him online at mangeshig.com.