they attempt to reconnect with half-forgotten traditions and hide from the authorities who have been kidnapping Ojibway youth

events in his life take him back to his childhood home

honoring the past's complexity and providing insights into the present

who moved to the big city of Minneapolis

The poems build in urgency

Thunder Boy Jr. politics they attempt to reconnect withThunder Boy Jr. is named after his dad, but he wants a name that's all his own. Just because people call his dad Big Thunder doesn't mean he wants to be Little Thunder. He wants a name that celebrates something cool he's done, like Touch the Clouds, Not Afraid of Ten Thousand Teeth, or Full of Wonder. But just when Thunder Boy Jr. thinks all hope is lost, he and his dad pick the perfect name a name that is sure to light up the sky. National Book Award