Identity is often revealed in the most periloussituations. In The Abenaki—People of the Dawn,it is Joe Obomsawin’s intimate knowledge ofthe back roads and hidden trails on the frontiersof Quebec and New England that narrowly savesa group of bootleggers from capture. The escapealso provides the impetus for his character’spowerful and deeply personal retelling of thehistory of his people. Huddled around a fire ina remote cabin, Obomsawin unfolds the tragic,improbable and inspiring story of the Abenakination, reduced from 50,000 to some 1,500 overa few hundred years of colonial settlement.

A collaboration between author and storytellerMike Burns and director G. Scott MacLeod aspart of the animated series The Water of Life,The Abenaki—People of the Dawn tells theharrowing tale of a people’s struggle for survival.This graphic novel is based on Mike Burns’ bookof stories entitled The Water of Life (Chemindes Cantons, 2009). The illustrations by Montrealfilmmaker G. Scott MacLeod have been adaptedfrom his animated film of the same story.