A Girl Called Echo: Omnibus by Katherena Vermette, illustrated by Scott B. Henderson

Mtis teenager Echo Desjardins is struggling to adjust to a new school and a new home. When an ordinary history class turns extraordinary, Echo is pulled into a time-travelling adventure. Follow Echo as she experiences pivotal events from Mtis history and imagines what the future might hold. This omnibus edition includes all four volumes in the A Girl Called Echo series:

InPemmican Wars, Echo finds herself transported to the prairies of 1814. She witnesses a bison hunt, visits a Mtis camp, and travels the fur-trade routes. Experience the perilous era of the Pemmican Wars and the events that lead to the Battle of Seven Oaks.

InRed River Resistance, we join Echo on the banks of the Red River in the summer of 1869. Canadian surveyors have arrived and Mtis families, who have lived there for generations, are losing their land. As the Resistance takes hold, Echo fears for the future of her people in Red River.

InNorthwest Resistance, Echo travels to 1885. The bison are gone and settlers from the East are arriving in droves. The Mtis face starvation and uncertainty as both their survival and traditional way of life are threatened. The Canadian government has ignored their petitions, but hope rises with the return of Louis Riel.

InRoad Allowance Era, Echo returns to 1885. Louis Riel is standing trial, and the government has not fulfilled its promise of land for the Mtis. Burnt out of their home in Ste. Madeleine, Echo's people make their way to Rooster Town, a shanty community on the southwest edges of Winnipeg. In this final instalment, Echo is reminded of the strength and perseverance of the Mtis.

This special omnibus edition of Katherena Vermette's best-selling series features an all-new foreword by Chantal Fiola (Returning to Ceremony: Spirituality in Manitoba Mtis Communities), a historical timeline, and an essay about Mtis being and belonging by Brenda Macdougall (Contours of a People: Mtis Family, Mobility, and History). (From Highwater Press)

Vermette is a poet and novelist based in Winnipeg. Her books include the novels The Strangers and The Break, and the poetry collections North End Love Songs and river woman. North End Love Songs won the 2013 Governor General's Literary Award for poetry; The Strangers won the 2021 Atwood Gibson Writers' Trust Fiction Prize and The Break, was championed by comedian Candy Palmater on Canada Reads 2017.

Scott B. Henderson is an author and illustrator based in Winnipeg. Some of his other books include Breakdown, As I Enfold You in Petals and A Blanket of Butterflies. He was also a contributor to the graphic anthology This Place: 150 Years Retold, which is now a CBC Books podcast.