Residential Schools - Recommended reading for children and teens

Updated April 9, 2024
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The train
Callaghan, Jodie
Paper Book
Ashley meets her great-uncle by the old train tracks near their community in Nova Scotia. Ashley sees his sadness, and Uncle tells her of the day years ago when he and the other children from their community were told to board the train before being taken to residential school where their lives...
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.

Pilleurs de rêves
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.

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.

Je ne suis pas un numéro
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...
Quand j'avais huit ans
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...
Les mots volés
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...
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.

Quand on était seuls
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.

Fatty legs : a true story
Jordan-Fenton, Christy.
Paper Book
The beloved story of an Inuvialuit girl standing up to the bullies of residential school, updated for a new generation of readers. Margaret Olemaun Pokiak-Fenton's powerful story of residential school in the far North has been reissued to commemorate the memoir's 10th anniversary with...
Also available in DAISY and eBook format.
Les bas du pensionnat
Jordan-Fenton, Christy.
Paper Book
The beloved story of an Inuvialuit girl standing up to the bullies of residential school, updated for a new generation of readers. Margaret Olemaun Pokiak-Fenton's powerful story of residential school in the far North has been reissued to commemorate the memoir's 10th anniversary with...

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