'Wolf's Trail' author at library

Celebrate “The Wolf’s Trail: An Ojibwe Story, Told by Wolves” book with storytime and mask making at the Cloquet Public Library from

10 a.m. to noon Saturday, April 22. The all-ages event will be led by students from the Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College Head Start. Refreshments will be provided.

Author Thomas Peacock is a Cloquet native, growing up as part of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. This year, his 2020 book, “The Wolf’s Trail: An Ojibwe Story, Told By Wolves,” is the 22nd One Book Northland selection, a yearlong celebration of work at libraries and bookstores across the region.

“The Wolf’s Trail” is the story of a rather reluctant older wolf that young pups look up to, calling him “Zhi-shay” in Ojibwe, meaning “Uncle.” He proceeds to tell stories of creation, and the relationship between man and wolf, a sacred one in Peacock’s culture. The book is another example of Native storytelling which has earned Peacock two Minnesota Book Awards.

There is more freedom to tell Native stories today, he said in a November Pine Knot News story, and it can be beneficial. Yes, “it’s like giving away our secrets,” he said, which often exposes “our issues, our contradictions. I write about those.”