Her earlier 2019 work, Grandfather's Blood Memories and Unbroken Spirit, documents her grandfather Frank Doolittle’s life, including boarding school experiences and a period at Leavenworth, drawn from records of imprisonment related to illegal whiskey sales and the Carlisle Indian Industrial School era.

Shuck began writing in 2005 after helping with Hurricane Katrina relief in Louisiana, which inspired her to document her family and Indigenous culture.

A Fond du Lac elder, Sharon Doolittle Shuck, 87, has published a memoir titled “A Porcupine for a Pet: Stories of an Ojibwe Childhood 1939-1947,” compiling 15 autobiographical stories from her Fond du Lac Reservation childhood in the 1940s.

The memoir centers on family, love, a deep connection to the natural world, and Indigenous cultural heritage, stressing the importance of preserving storytelling as a living tradition.

A discussion event about the memoir is planned at the Cloquet Public Library at 5 p.m. on Thursday, August 20.

The narrative portrays poverty during the Great Depression and World War II, detailing tar paper shacks, scarce cash, rationing, handmade clothing, subsistence living, and reliance on local resources, with context on her father’s work in Duluth during the war.

Shuck emphasizes sharing these histories to prevent cultural loss and to educate younger generations about life on the reservation in the 1940s.