The Second Chance of Benjamin Waterfalls

by James Bird (Author)

The Second Chance of Benjamin Waterfalls
Reading Level: 6th − 7th Grade

A middle-grade novel by James Bird about a boy sent to his Ojibwe family to straighten out his life.

Benjamin Waterfalls comes from a broken home, and the quickest fix he's found for his life is to fill that emptiness with stuff he steals and then sells. But he's been caught one too many times, and when he appears before a tough judge, his mother proposes sending him to "boot camp" at the Ojibwe reservation where they used to live.

Soon he is on his way to Grand Portage, Minnesota, to live with his father - the man Benny hasn't seen in years. Not only is "boot camp" not what he expects, but his rehabilitation seems to be in the hands of the tribal leader's daughter, who wears a mask. Why? Finding the answer to this and so many other questions prove tougher than any military-style boot camp. Will answers be enough for Benny to turn his life around and embrace his second chance?

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ALA/Booklist

Benny's progress is heartening and sure to encourage readers.

Publishers Weekly

Thirteen-year-old Ojibwe Benjamin Waterfalls excels at shoplifting and justifies his myriad offenses by citing the usurping of Native lands ("This is America. Everybody steals. This country was founded on theft"). When a judge sentences him to juvenile detention, though, his mother suggests an alternate punishment: sending Ben to the Grand Portage Indian Reservation, three hours north of their home in Duluth, Minn. There, he will spend time with his father, whom he despises, and stepfamily, while attending an Ojibwe "boot camp" led by the chief's 12-year-old daughter Niimi Waatese, who wears a mask over her eyes. As Ben struggles through the camp's regimen, he must reconcile the thrill of stealing with the growing awareness that his actions affect others, and that this may be his last chance to "find the right path home." While a too-neat ending undercuts the book's emotional resonance, Ben's voice is snappy and captivating, and Bird (The Brave), who is Ojibwe, delivers an uplifting narrative that demonstrates how returning to one's roots can have transformative power. Select chapters open with an Ojibwe word or phrase; Native customs and traditions feature throughout. Ages 10-14. Agent: Rosemary Stimola, Stimola Literary Studio.(Apr.)

Copyright 2022 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

Review quotes

The bravado and feigned indifference in Benny's voice is spot-on for a kid hiding the pain of his father's abandonment, and the times he lets himself contemplate how truly awful it felt to be left behind are heartbreakingly realistic. ....It's a hard lesson, but it's grounded in love, and readers will be happy to see Benny and his father get their second chances. — Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books (BCCB)

Bird's strengths include his multidimensional characters (each of whom has flaws that they struggle to overcome) as well as the vivid descriptions of Grand Portage, Minnesota, home of the Gitchi Onigaming Ojibwe. Of equal importance is the more understated message that Indigenous ways of knowing and approaches to problems can be extremely effective, despite the dominant culture's insistence on discounting them. ... Benny's progress is heartening and sure to encourage readers.— Booklist

James Bird
James Bird's debut middle-grade novel, The Brave, was a Book Riot Best Book of 2020. He is also a screenwriter and director at the independent film company, Zombot Pictures; his films include We Are Boats and Honeyglue. A California native of Ojibwe descent, he now lives in Swampscott, Massachusetts with his wife, the author and actor Adriana Mather, and their son.
Classification
Fiction
ISBN-13
9781250811585
Lexile Measure
-
Guided Reading Level
-
Publisher
N/A
Publication date
August 08, 2023
Series
-
BISAC categories
JUV013060 - Juvenile Fiction | Family | Parents
JUV039020 - Juvenile Fiction | Social Themes | Adolescence
JUV011040 - Juvenile Fiction | People & Places | United States - Native American
JUV074000 - Juvenile Fiction | Diversity & Multicultural
Library of Congress categories
Fathers and sons
Teenagers
Coming of age
Bildungsromans
Indian reservations
Ojibwa Indians
Punishment
Shoplifting
Grand Portage Reservation (Minn.)

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