This is a middle-grade contemporary fiction novel told from the point of view of a First Nation's boy who has been diagnosed with leukemia. The story parallels his cancer with the negative environmental impacts of the tar sands mining in Canada. This is a quick read that tells an incredibly important story. Adam, or Hawk, learns about the impacts of the mining and ties it into with his own leukemia. Dance shows that communities are caught in a Catch-22, where the only jobs are provided by the mining industry and the industry also invests money into those communities, yet it is that very industry that is causing people to become ill and environmental devastation that is destroying traditional ways of life.

I especially liked how Adam/Hawk's story was interspersed with those of two osprey's quest to reproduce successfully, symbolically connecting Hawk's desire to survive with White Crest and Three Talon's desire for healthy offspring.

There are many books out there about kids with cancer. I think this is the first I've come across, though, which directly ties that cancer to environmental causes, and I hope that many more may follow. While this is an important story, at the same time, I am unsure if children would find it a compelling one. Dance, through Adam/Hawk, often takes on a lecturing or teaching tone which might turn off some readers.

Review copy courtesy of the publisher via Netgalley ( )

Hawk by Jennifer Dance.

Adam, a First Nations teen, Adam has been recently diagnosed with leukemia and is struggling with accepting the changes that it will bring to his life. Having given up his ancestry for the finer things in life, Adam now must look back and find the answers he is looking for. There is a reason his grandfather always called him hawk.

A pair of mating fish hawks named Three Talons and White Chest. Three Talons and White Chest are struggling to live in what is left of their mating area which is in the center of the oil sands in Alberta.

Readers will see the effects of the mining on the land, on the animals and on people.

Highly recommended for teachers to use a tool for discussion about the environment. ( )

3.5 Stars

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Adam, also know as Hawk, finds an osprey, a fish hawk, in a pond polluted by the oil industry which is ever present in Northern Alberta. When he's diagnosed with leukaemia, which may or may not be caused by the same oil industry, Hawk and the osprey link together in their battle to survive.

I find it difficult to really place this novel in the right age category. At times I was thinking YA, but mostly I would have said it was for the somewhat younger audience. There are a lot of problems discussed in this novel (it's funny this is the second book this month that deals with the problems of oil industry and indigenous inhabitants of Alaska/Northern Canada) but they were addressed in a way suitable for younger readers, I believe.

It took me some time to get used to the osprey chapters, but in the end I learned to appreciate them. It was an interesting read, not something I read a lot.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review! ( )