Book

The Marrow Thieves

In this dystopian novel, humanity has nearly destroyed its world through global warming, but now an even greater evil lurks. The indigenous people of North America are being hunted and harvested for their bone marrow, which carries the key to recovering something the rest of the population has lost: the ability to dream.

Last Updated: February 16, 2023

Book

Language

English — US

Subject

English & Language Arts

Culture & Identity

By Cherie Dimaline

Humanity has nearly destroyed the world through global warming, but now an even greater evil lurks. The indigenous people of North America are being hunted and harvested for their bone marrow, which carries the key to recovering something the rest of the population has lost: the ability to dream. In this dark world, Frenchie and his companions struggle to survive as they make their way up north to the old lands. For now, survival means staying hidden - but what they don't know is that one of them holds the secret to defeating the marrow thieves.

Through Frenchie’s experiences, ideas about family, belonging, storytelling, and Indigenous ways of knowing are explored.

The Marrow Thieves

Date of Publication: September 2017

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Assessment

Create a culminating experience for your students that helps them draw new connections between the concepts and ideas presented in this text set, themselves, and the world today.

Lesson

Students reflect on how aspects of their identities are more visible or felt in certain situations and read an informational text to help them consider the interplay between individual identity and social identity.

Activity

Students reflect on a meaningful, inspirational, or thought-provoking quotation.

The back of a white book with a quote from Brianna Wiest which reads "I thought becoming myself was improving each part piece by piece. But it was finding a hidden wholeness seeing the fractures at the design."

Activity

The Rose, Thorn, Bud exercise increases students' self-awareness as they reflect on recent successes, challenges, and opportunities.

Collection

These opening and closing classroom routines will set a welcoming tone, allow students to connect with one another, and encourage goal setting.

Two students in conversation while looking down at a laptop computer.

Lesson

Students explore the costs and benefits of sharing aspects of their identities, discuss an informational text about “narrative identity,” and apply these concepts to their own lives in an original poem.

Collection

These first-week-of-school activities create welcoming learning environments that prioritize care, relationships, and community.

Students sit around a table working on a big paper activity while receiving feedback from an educator.

Toolkit

These back-to-school activities and teacher resources will help you lay a foundation for a reflective and caring community at the start of the school year.

Students move around the classroom in conversation with each other. One student looks directly into the camera with a smile on their face.

Lesson

Students read and discuss personal narrative essays and consider what factors can make it challenging for young people to be who they really want to be in the world.

Lesson

Students learn about a project, created by two young adults, that engaged people across the country in conversations about race, identity, and culture. Then they start to envision what sharing their own stories can look, sound, and feel like.

Section

Each of our learning experiences provides activities and resources to explore a core Facing History concept or theme while building key literacy skills.

Section

Apply Facing History’s key principles of text selection to your own context as you customize a unit for your students.

More Like This Teaching Resources Learning & Events

The resources I’m getting from my colleagues through Facing History have been just invaluable.

— Claudia Bautista, Santa Monica, Calif

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The Marrow Thieves

At a Glance

Language

Subject

The Marrow Thieves

Borrow

You might also be interested in…

Identity and Storytelling Assessment Ideas

Why Identity Matters

Notable Quotable

Rose, Thorn, Bud

Establishing Opening and Closing Routines

Authoring My Identity

Activities for the First Days of School

Back to School: Building Community for Connection and Learning

Stories of Identity and Belonging

Cultivating Identity Literacy

Teach with Facing History Learning Experiences

Choose a Coming-of-Age Text

The Marrow Thieves

At a Glance

Language

Subject

The Marrow Thieves

Borrow

You might also be interested in…

Identity and Storytelling Assessment Ideas

Why Identity Matters

Notable Quotable

Rose, Thorn, Bud

Establishing Opening and Closing Routines

Authoring My Identity

Activities for the First Days of School

Back to School: Building Community for Connection and Learning

Stories of Identity and Belonging

Cultivating Identity Literacy

Teach with Facing History Learning Experiences

Choose a Coming-of-Age Text

Inspiration, insights, & ways to get involved