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Wenjack (novella)Wenjack is a historical fiction novella by Canadian author Joseph Boyden based on the story of Chanie "Charlie" Wenjack.

Published by Hamish Hamilton (Penguin Books) in 2016 and featuring illustrations by Cree artist Kent Monkman, it was part of a collaborative effort to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Chanie's death. The book follows Chanie Wenjack, a 12-year-old Ojibwe boy, as he escapes from a Northern Ontario residential school in the futile hopes of returning home to his family and two dogs. It alternates between Chanie's perspective and the perspectives of Manitous, who take on different animal forms to keep a silent watch on Chanie as he walks on foot to a home he does not know is hundreds of kilometers away.

Plot
The story begins with Chanie describing his experiences of abuse from residential school teachers, who he and his friends (two brothers) call "Fish Bellies" or "Sucker Bellies" for their pale skin. On an October afternoon, Chanie and the two brothers decide to run away. Because of a lung infection, Chanie struggles to keep up with his friends. Eventually the three boys reach a river, where they run into the two brothers' uncle. They are given a meager meal of freshly-caught fish in the cabin where the uncle, his wife, and his daughter are staying. That night, Chanie sleeps on the floor by the wood stove.

In the morning, the uncle tells his wife to send Chanie away, while he takes his two nephews to the trapline to look for food. When Chanie gets up to join them, the uncle tells him that it would be dangerous to have four people in his canoe. The mother sends Chanie on his way with dried moose meat and tells him to turn right at the tracks to head back to the school. The girl gives him a glass jar that holds seven matches. Chanie leaves the cabin, resolved to find his two friends and their uncle. However, when he reunites with them, the uncle tells him he cannot stay and that he must return to the school. He tells Chanie he can beat the impending bad weather if he travels quickly.

At the railroad tracks, Chanie turns in the direction away from the school and toward where he thinks his home will be. When it is dark, he decides to sleep next to a beaver pond, lighting a small fire with the matches given to him by the girl. However, the fire gives him little to no protection against the extremely cold temperatures that night. He ends up dreaming about the sexual abuse he experienced at the hands of one of his teachers. Back on the tracks, Chanie continues to slowly make his way on his journey, weakened from exhaustion and exposure. He falls a number of times before finally succumbing to the cold. After his death, a mother lynx lifts Chanie's spirit and carries him into the forest, away from the tracks. In the morning an engineer comes across Chanie's frozen body by the tracks and notifies the authorities. The story ends with Chanie, warm and happy, dancing in the forest with all of the animals featured throughout the novel.

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