The Outside Circle: A Graphic Novel

By Patti LaBoucane-Benson and Kelly Mellings

Winner, CODE’s 2016 Burt Award for First Nation, Inuit and Métis Literature

In this important graphic novel, two brothers surrounded by poverty, drug abuse, and gang violence, try to overcome centuries of historic trauma in very different ways to bring about positive change in their lives.

Pete, a young Indigenous man wrapped up in gang violence, lives with his younger brother, Joey, and his mother who is a heroin addict. One night, Pete and his mother’s boyfriend, Dennis, get into a big fight, which sends Dennis to the morgue and Pete to jail. Initially, Pete keeps up ties to his crew, until a jail brawl forces him to realize the negative influence he has become on Joey, which encourages him to begin a process of rehabilitation that includes traditional Indigenous healing circles and ceremonies.

Powerful, courageous, and deeply moving, The Outside Circle is drawn from the author’s twenty years of work and research on healing and reconciliation of gang-affiliated or incarcerated Indigenous men.

• Language: English
• Publisher: House of Anansi Press
• Release date: Apr 25, 2015
• ISBN: 9781770899384

Patti LaBoucane-Benson

PATTI LABOUCANE-BENSON is a Métis woman and the Director of Research, Training, and Communication at Native Counselling Services of Alberta (NCSA). She has a Ph.D. in Human Ecology, focusing on Aboriginal Family Resilience. Her doctoral research explored how providing historic trauma healing programs for Aboriginal offenders builds resilience in Aboriginal families and communities. She has also been the recipient of the Aboriginal Role Model of Alberta Award for Education. She lives in Spruce Grove, Alberta.

Book preview

Reviews for The Outside Circle

[Kari-Ann Goiziou · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Must read for everyone.. Target audience of all ages and backgrounds.

[villemezbrown · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Descended from the Blackfish Lake Cree First Nation in Canada, Pete Carver's family is splintering in a spiral of drugs, alcohol, and domestic violence. When this young member of a street gang lands in prison, he is offered a chance to enter an innovative program to help indigenous people heal the generational trauma from centuries of racism, discrimination, and the forced assimilation of Native children at residential schools.This dramatization is based on a real program that is working to reverse the tides of colonial policy that have caused "the overrepresentation of Aboriginal people in the criminal justice system and of Aboriginal children in government care" and "the intergenerational transmission of hopelessness, helplessness, and powerlessness."While the actual storytelling can be a little awkward at times, I was moved by Pete's transformation and given hope that others could follow the same path.

[joshenglish_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Fascinating exploration of the injustices done to people in the name of civilization. This is also a good book to examine what it means to be a man in today's world.

[reader1009-863136 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

diverse adult/teen graphic novel (first nations youth Canadian history/Indian schools single moms/gangs/alcoholism/drug use and dealing/incarceration & alternative therapy/rehab for indigenous people)
good history lesson and representation, though it felt a bit didactic.

[lvstrongpuff · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This graphic is hard hitting and is something that needs to be read. I am not Native American, but my oldest two children are 1/2 and I lived on the reservation with my first husband's family. I have heard their stories about life when they were young here in the United States. This book really shows how life can be when you are beat down and you pass it down from generation to generation.

[lydia1879 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

powerful stuff! i have to think about this review but i loved this a lot.

[obtusata · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Devastating and powerful. One of the best explanations I've seen of how trauma can be passed through generations and affect your life.

[brianfergusonwpg-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I can' t begin to describe how much I feel this book deserves appreciation. I see no reviews on LibraryThing and this is saddening. With beautiful graphic rendering, through the narrative of a culturally dispossessed gang member who loses the few connections he has in the first place, the tragedy, depth of despair and (with aid of a detailed genogram no less)the background events of the "assimilation" of our Aboriginal peoples are shown in full. The author and illustrator have succeeded in communicating this information elegantly, simply, accessibly, yet comprehensively (in essence a fairly amazing accomplishment). For all the pain; inner strength, resilience and fragile humility are never completely forgotten. Rays of hope pore through. Still as I extol its virtues, I picture this publication seen as merely an accessory-tool expressly for rehabilitation programs, or perhaps, in a less favorable light, seen as "propaganda" by those in our society who possess little awareness of these realities. I can attest though, being in-part because I am married to a survivor of residential schools, this narrative mirrors the experiences of probably every single individual and family of First Nations descent. "Astonishing!" some of you will say and this is the very reason I will recommend this to LibrayThing (and Goodreads)readers and will go further out of my way than even usual!