Darcy Whitecrow and Heather M. O’Connor’s non-fiction Picture Book ACROSS THE ICE: How We Saved the Ojibwe Horse, about the daring rescue that saved the last Ojibwe horses, located at Lac La Croix First Nation, from extinction, illustrated by Natasha Donovan, to Kate Fletcher at Candlewick, in a pre-empt, for publication in Fall 2025 by Laura Cameron at Transatlantic Agency for the author, and by Lindsay Auld at Writers House for the illustrator (world).
DARCY WHITECROW is Ojibwe and Dakota; he is a member of the Seine River First Nation band in Northwestern Ontario, where he lives. Darcy practices traditional lifestyles like trapping, fishing, and ricing, as well as traditional spirituality in both the Midewiwin and Sundance traditions. With his partner, Kim, they have started a non-profit, Grey Raven Ranch, where they have been raising and caring for the Ojibwe Horses for the last decade to help preserve the breed and the tradition of symbiotic interaction with the Ojibwe people. Darcy’s debut picture book, Runs with the Stars, co-written with Heather M. O’Connor, published with Second Story in May 2022. Darcy’s second picture book, ACROSS THE ICE: How We Saved the Ojibwe Horse is forthcoming with Candlewick in Fall 2025.
HEATHER M. O’CONNOR is an award-winning children’s author and freelance writer based in Peterborough, Ontario. Her first picture book, Fast Friends, won the Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Award and was a finalist for the Blue Spruce Award, the IODE Jean Throop Award, the Shining Willow Award, and is the TD Grade 1 Book Giveaway Title in 2022. Her next picture book Suze Knows the Way is forthcoming with Scholastic Canada in fall 2023. She first learned about Ojibwe Horses while writing for the Ontario Parks blog and teamed up with Darcy Whitecrow to pen the recently published picture book Runs with the Stars, which came out with Second Story in May 2022. Heather’s next picture book, ACROSS THE ICE: How We Saved the Ojibwe Horse is forthcoming with Candlewick in Fall 2025.