Firekeeper's Daughter

Part 1, Chapters 1-6

Reading Check

1. The University of Michigan (Chapter 1)

2. To buy alcohol for the party (Chapter 4)

3. Cherokee (Chapter 6)

Short Answer

1. The two sides of Daunis’s family are openly hostile to one another. On one side of her family (her father’s), she is a descendant of Ojibwe Firekeepers; on the other (her mother’s side), she is a descendant of French fur traders. Daunis must “code switch” to assimilate to both cultures at different times. When she is being a “Fontaine,” she’s navigating European culture; when she’s being a “Firekeeper,” she is navigating Indigenous culture. (Part 1, Chapters 1-6)

Part 1, Chapters 7-13

Reading Check

1. Because she is in mourning her uncle’s death (Chapter 8)

2. Custer Died for Your Sins by Vine Deloria Jr. (Chapter 9)

3. Tobacco (Chapter 10)

Short Answer

1. When Daunis’s mother was 16, her father – a poor Ojibwe young man from the reservation on Sugar Island – impregnated her. Daunis’s mother’s family was prejudiced toward Indigenous people, and therefore never accepted Daunis’s father as one of the family. In fact, Daunis’s grandfather (her mother’s father) was the mayor of Sault Set. Marie and made sure that Daunis’s father was unable to get a job anywhere nearby. (Chapter 7)

Part 2, Chapters 14-17

Reading Check

1. The Ojibwe tribe (Chapter 14)

2. Bottles (Chapter 15)

3. Her Jeep (Chapter 16)

Short Answer

1. Gramma Pearl loved thunderstorms. She loved them because she thought the “thunderbirds” brought out the family’s loved ones (“ancestors from the other world”) to check on them. (Chapter 17)

Part 2, Chapters 18-20

Reading Check

1. Coach Bobby (Chapter 19)

2. Because she doesn’t get her own name (Chapter 20)

Short Answer

1. It was, at one point, used as a legal treatment for asthma. Additionally, during WWII, soldiers were given meth by the U.S. government to help them stay awake longer and help them sharpen their senses. (Chapter 18)

Part 2, Chapters 21-25

Reading Check

1. A raven (Chapter 21)

2. That they are speckled (Chapter 22)

3. Her uncle’s journals (Chapter 23)

Short Answer

1. Jamie tries to give Daunis life advice during that run, even though he does not know her full story. There are details (for instance, how Daunis injured her shoulder) that Daunis has not yet shared with Jamie, and she is frustrated with him for thinking he can advise her when he doesn’t have the full picture of her life. (Chapter 25)

Part 2, Chapters 26-29

Reading Check

1. One week (Chapter 26)

2. Because he was adopted (Chapter 27)

3. With a slew of racist and insensitive remarks (Chapter 28)

Short Answer

1. They find a bag of crystal meth on Heather’s body. Heather was also found without a bra, underwear, or shoes on. What confuses Daunis is that Heather did not have any crystal meth on her at the party, earlier that night – so it is unclear how or why a bag of crystal meth was found on her body post-mortem (Chapter 29)

Part 2, Chapters 30-34

Reading Check

1. A blood test (Chapter 30)

2. “The little people” (Chapter 31)

3. Her relationship with Jamie (Chapter 32)

Short Answer

1. Even though she is upset with Teddie, Daunis recognizes that Teddie is the reason she has any relationship at all to the Firekeeper side of her family. Teddie has looked out for Daunis since she was born. Even though Daunis is upset with Teddie, she is not going to hold their quarrel against Teddie forever. (Chapter 33)

Part 2, Chapters 35-39

Reading Check

1.  An “intervention sweat” (Chapter 36)

2. “Love medicine” (Chapter 37)

3. Daunis’s birthday (Chapter 38)

Short Answer

1. Daunis realizes that what they saw in their vision – the Little People – was actually not a hallucination, as she, Ron, and Jamie had suspected. The Little People are real; they were trying to warn Travis and Leonard’s cousin that something bad was going to happen if they continued to do drugs. (Chapter 35)

Part 2, Chapters 40-44

Reading Check

1. A framed photo of her, Levi, and their dad (Chapter 42)

2. Crystal meth (Chapter 43)

Short Answer

1. Daunis told Jamie that she did not like corsages. So, rather than get her the traditional corsage for this event, he opts to get her the hand-made bracelet instead. (Chapter 40)

Part 3, Chapters 45-52

Reading Check

1. The east side of Sugar Island (Chapter 45)

2. From her new boyfriend from Las Vegas (Chapter 46)

Short Answer

1. He explains that the scarf was a present from Daunis’s mother to their dad, and so it always made Dana sad to see it. Whenever their dad wore the scarf, Dana felt as though it was to remind her that their father should have been with Daunis’s mother, not Dana. (Chapter 49)

Part 4, Chapters 53-57

Reading Check

1. A floral necklace (Chapter 53)

2. GrandMary (Chapter 55)

Short Answer

1. In her vision, Daunis is visited by a little boy, who is the future child who would have been her child with Jamie. She kisses the child’s hand. Daunis snaps out of the vision when Jamie places his hand on hers in real life. (Chapter 56)