Arnolda Dufour Bowes is a Métis writer. Illustrated by Karlene Harvey (she/they) an illustrator and writer who lives on the unceded and ancestral home territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tseil-Waututh people. Karlene is Tsilhqot’in and Syilx and grew up on territories of the Semiahmoo and Kwantlen Nations.Iskotêw Mahkîsîs / Firefox is full of ideas. When her grandfather Moshôm finally agrees to teach her how to box, she decides that the rank odors, endless drills, and teasing from the boxers won’t stop her from wearing a tutu to the gym or learning how to box. She learns to listen and be patient. Joining her father’s construction crew Firefox uncovers a surprising talent for colour, texture, and design. And when she turns thirteen, she figures out an ingenious way to make some smokin’ good camouflage to wear on her first deer hunt, where she joins a long family tradition. Through it all she is surrounded by her family and relatives, pestered by her annoying younger sibling, Dez, and her older sister Rheana, and gently guided by her strong female relatives – her mother, her kokhom and her ultra-cool cousin Jayda. “Keep taking up space,” Maggie’s mother says. “You’re only making room for the girls behind you.” A heroine for today, Maggie Lou discovers that with hard work and perseverance she can gain valuable new skills, without losing one iota of her irrepressible spirit.
