--- description: Find out why 'The Marrow Thieves ' by Cherie Dimaline is on TIME's list of best YA books of all time. title: 'The Marrow Thieves' Is on TIME’s List of the 100 Best YA Books image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd5b47399bfc5d5b7/698a1bbd656a3f88dcbdb7fe/the-marrow-thieves-best-YA-book.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Aug 11, 2021 # The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close  In _The Marrow Thieves_’ dystopian Canada, irreparably marred by[ climate change](https://time.com/tag/climate-change/ "undefined"), humanity has grown so traumatized that only Indigenous people retain the ability to dream. So the government is kidnapping them and harvesting their bone marrow in a desperate, mysterious effort to make white people’s REM cycles great again. It’s a jarring allegory for[ North America’s colonial past](https://time.com/5952888/exterminate-all-brutes-review/ "undefined") and a[ global future that looks more precarious every day](https://time.com/5824295/climate-change-future-possibilities/ "undefined"), and one that Cherie Dimaline, a member of the Métis Nation of Ontario, gracefully unfurls in her 2017 novel. But _The Marrow Thieves_, a winner of the Kirkus Prize and Canada’s prestigious Governor General’s Award, isn’t just a political statement. It’s also a riveting, adventure-packed coming-of-age story whose orphaned hero, an Indigenous 16-year-old boy known as Frenchie, makes an arduous northward journey to what he and his companions hope will be relative safety, and finds community and culture in the face of violence and dehumanization. —_Judy Berman_ **Buy Now:** _The Marrow Thieves_ on[ Bookshop](https://bookshop.org/a/4973/9781770864863 "undefined") |[ Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1770864865/ref=as%5Fli%5Fqf%5Fasin%5Fil%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=time-books-20&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=1770864865&linkId=59a4db3e8fa9bf751023efacb03a6069 "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-best-ya-books/6084702/the-marrow-thieves/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-best-ya-books/6084702/the-marrow-thieves/"},"headline":"The Marrow Thieves","datePublished":"2021-08-11T11:41:17.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-02T23:52:45.285Z","description":"Find out why 'The Marrow Thieves ' by Cherie Dimaline is on TIME's list of best YA books of all time.","url":"https://time.com/collections/100-best-ya-books/6084702/the-marrow-thieves/","keywords":["Books","Lists","best YA books"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd5b47399bfc5d5b7/698a1bbd656a3f88dcbdb7fe/the-marrow-thieves-best-YA-book.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd5b47399bfc5d5b7/698a1bbd656a3f88dcbdb7fe/the-marrow-thieves-best-YA-book.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-best-ya-books/6084702/the-marrow-thieves/","name":"The Marrow Thieves"}}]}] ```