Son of a Trickster

• Genre: Fiction; young adult contemporary fantasy
• Originally Published: 2017
• Reading Level/Interest: Grades 9-12
• Structure/Length: 40 chapters; approx. 336 pages; approx. 9 hours, 8 minutes on audio
• Protagonist and Central Conflict: Sixteen-year-old Jared is a First Nations teen living in Canada in this contemporary speculative novel. As Jared contends with school struggles and his troubled family, strange and fantastical occurrences begin to suggest that Jared is the son of a mythological trickster from Indigenous lore.
• Potential Sensitivity Issues: Drug use and addiction; teen pregnancy; social acceptance and anxiety; sexual experimentation; physical abuse; language; graphic depictions of violence; self-harm; attempted suicide

Eden Robinson, Author

• Bio: Born in 1968 in Kitimat, British Columbia; Canadian novelist and short story writer; attended the University of Victoria and the University of British Columbia; a member of the Haisla and Heiltsuk First Nations
• Other Works: Traplines (1996); Monkey Beach (2000); Trickster Drift (2018); Return of the Trickster (2021)
• Awards: Giller Prize (shortlisted; 2017); Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize (BC Book Prizes shortlist; 2018); Ontario Library Association’s Evergreen Award (shortlisted; 2018); Sunburst Award (shortlisted; 2018)

CENTRAL THEMES connected and noted throughout this Teaching Unit:

• The Danger and Risk of Supernatural Powers
• Native Identity and Culture
• Addiction in Dysfunctional Families

STUDY OBJECTIVES: In accomplishing the components of this Unit, students will: