Residential Schools - Recommended reading for children and teens

Updated April 9, 2024
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The marrow thieves
Dimaline, Cherie
Paper Book
Winner of the 2017 Governor General's Literary Award (Young People's Literature - Text) Winner of the 2017 Kirkus PrizeWinner of the 2018 Sunburst Award Winner of the 2018 Amy Mathers Teen Book Award Winner of the 2018 Burt Award for First Nations, Inuit...

Also available in eBook and eAudiobook formats as well as a Book Club Kit.

The marrow thieves
Dimaline, Cherie
Paper Book
Winner of the 2017 Governor General's Literary Award (Young People's Literature - Text) Winner of the 2017 Kirkus PrizeWinner of the 2018 Sunburst Award Winner of the 2018 Amy Mathers Teen Book Award Winner of the 2018 Burt Award for First Nations, Inuit...

Avec Pilleurs de reves, Cherie Dimaline cree un monde dystopique aussi lugubre qu'inquietant, qui ne nous est pourtant pas completement etranger. Elle parvient a tisser des liens troublants entre cet univers fictif et le monde dans lequel nous vivons, presentant une allegorie puissante du colonialisme en Amerique du Nord.

Aussi disponible en format numerique.

Shin-chi's canoe
Campbell, Nicola I.
Ebook

Also available in eBook format.

La pirogue de Shin-chi
Campbell, Nicola I.
Ebook

Shi-shi-etko s'apprete a retourner au pensionnat indien pour une deuxieme annee, cette fois-ci accompagnee de son petit frere de six ans, Shin-chi. Elle lui remet une pirogue de cedre miniature, cadeau symbolique de leur pere qui represente tout ce dont Shin-chi doit se souvenir et garder secret.

Aussi disponible en format numerique.

I am not a number
Dupuis, Jenny Kay.
Paper Book
When eight-year-old Irene is removed from her First Nations family to live in a residential school she is confused, frightened, and terribly homesick. She tries to remember who she is and where she came from, despite the efforts of the nuns who are in charge at the school and who tell her that she...

Also available in eBook format.

I am not a number
Dupuis, Jenny Kay
Paper Book
When eight-year-old Irene is removed from her First Nations family to live in a residential school she is confused, frightened, and terribly homesick. She tries to remember who she is and where she came from, despite the efforts of the nuns who are in charge at the school and who tell her that she...
When I was eight
Jordan-Fenton, Christy.
Paper Book
Bestselling memoir Fatty Legs for younger readers. Olemaun is eight and knows a lot of things. But she does not know how to read. Ignoring her father's warnings, she travels far from her Arctic home to the outsiders' school to learn. The nuns at the school call her Margaret. They cut off her...
When I was eight
Jordan-Fenton, Christy.
Paper Book
Bestselling memoir Fatty Legs for younger readers. Olemaun is eight and knows a lot of things. But she does not know how to read. Ignoring her father's warnings, she travels far from her Arctic home to the outsiders' school to learn. The nuns at the school call her Margaret. They cut off her...
Not my girl
Jordan-Fenton, Christy.
Paper Book
Margaret can't wait to see her family, but her homecoming is not what she expected. Based on the true story of Margaret Pokiak-Fenton, and complemented by evocative illustrations, Not My Girl makes the original, award-winning memoir, A Stranger at Home, accessible to younger children. It is...
Stolen words
Florence, Melanie.
Paper Book
The story of the beautiful relationship between a little girl and her grandfather. When she asks her grandfather how to say something in his language - Cree - he admits that his language was stolen from him when he was a boy. The little girl then sets out to help her grandfather find his language...
Stolen words
Florence, Melanie
Paper Book
The story of the beautiful relationship between a little girl and her grandfather. When she asks her grandfather how to say something in his language - Cree - he admits that his language was stolen from him when he was a boy. The little girl then sets out to help her grandfather find his language...
As long as the rivers flow
Loyie, Oskiniko Larry
Ebook
Winner of the Norma Fleck Award for Canadian Children's Non-Fiction From the mid-1800s to the late 1990s, the education of Indigenous children was taken on by various churches in government-sponsored residential schools. More than 150,000 children were forcibly taken from their families in...
Tant que couleront les rivières
Loyie, Larry
Ebook
Winner of the Norma Fleck Award for Canadian Children's Non-Fiction From the mid-1800s to the late 1990s, the education of Indigenous children was taken on by various churches in government-sponsored residential schools. More than 150,000 children were forcibly taken from their families in...

En 1944, Larry Loyie, alors connu sous le nom de Lawrence, avait dix ans et vivait avec sa famille crie pres de Slave Lake, dans le nord de l'Alberta (Canada). Tant que couleront les rivieres s'inspire de son dernier ete avec ses proches, avant son depart obligatoire pour le pensionnat indien.

Aussi disponible en format numerique.

When we were alone
Robertson, David
Paper Book
Winner of the 2017 Governor General's Literary Award! A young girl notices things about her grandmother that make her curious. Why does her grandmother have long, braided hair and beautifully coloured clothing? Why does she speak Cree and spend so much time with her family? As the...

Also available in Braille and eBook formats.

When we were alone
Robertson, David
Paper Book
Winner of the 2017 Governor General's Literary Award! A young girl notices things about her grandmother that make her curious. Why does her grandmother have long, braided hair and beautifully coloured clothing? Why does she speak Cree and spend so much time with her family? As the...

En aidant sa grand-mere a entretenir son jardin, une fillette remarque chez celle-ci des caracteristiques qui piquent sa curiosite. Pourquoi sa grand-mere porte-t-elle ses longs cheveux en tresses et des vetements de couleurs vives ? Pourquoi parle-t-elle une autre langue et passe-t-elle tant de temps avec sa famille ? Ces questions amenent l'ainee a parler des annees qu'elle a passees enfant dans un pensionnat autochtone, endroit ou tout lui avait ete enleve. Quand on était seuls raconte une periode difficile et constitue, en dernier ressort, un temoignage de courage et de prise en charge personnelle.

Aussi disponible en format numerique.

My name is Seepeetza
Sterling, Shirley
Ebook
An honest, inside look at life in an Indian residential school in the 1950s, and how one indomitable young spirit survived it. At six years old, Seepeetza is taken from her happy family life on Joyaska Ranch to live as a boarder at the Kalamak Indian Residential School. Life at the school...
Also available in eBook format.
Sugar Falls : a residential school story
Robertson, David
Paper Book
Inspired by true events, this story of strength, family, and culture shares the awe-inspiring resilience of Elder Betty Ross. Abandoned as a young child, Betsy is adopted into a loving family. A few short years later, at the age of 8, everything changes. Betsy is taken away to a...
Also available in eBook format.

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