October 30, 2026
Minnow, by Willie Poll and Emily Graceanna Pearson
Last spring, we published a gallery of images from the graphic novel Minnow on 49thShelf, and that taste of the book made me seek it out to read it in its entirety. While the cover copy describes the book as magical realist, I’d argue that Minnow is more “realist magic” (is that a thing?), grounded in a recognizable reality in which extraordinary things are possible. Which means that my in-house Raina Talgemeier-enthusiast middle-grade graphic novel readers found the book appealing. And I was amused that while this is a story in which a person becomes and orca, and another can transform into a mermaid, what my 13 year old found most unbelievable about it was that protagonist Minnow could so immediately and uncomplicatedly become friends with Celia, whom she encounters one day at the local aquarium. But I reminded her that this is a novel in which all kinds of amazing things can happen, including the triumph of an Indigenous protest to stop a pipeline. And who’s to say which parts of the story are magic and which parts might be real.
Minnow is the story of a young Indigenous girl in the midst of a lonely summer in Vancouver who’s noticing strange behaviour from the sea creatures around her—an orca appears to be following her up and down the beach. When the visits the aquarium, the animals there appear to be doing just the same. With the help of a new friend, Celia, who might be more than a friend, the two girls begin to investigate Minnow’s connection to the sea life, how this connects to Minnow’s missing grandmother, the way that a spirit of the Great Lakes might be underlining Minnow’s connection to the water, and to her future as a water protector, pushing back against the oil industry to keep the waters healthy and clear for creatures of all kinds.
