Residential Schools - Recommended reading for children and teens

Updated August 21, 2024
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Winnipeg Public Library
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The Witness Blanket : truth, art and reconciliation
Newman, Carey
Paper Book
For more than 150 years, thousands of Indigenous children were taken from their families and sent to residential schools across Canada. Artist Carey Newman created the Witness Blanket to make sure that history is never forgotten. The Blanket is a living work of art--a collection of...
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.

Shin-chi's canoe
Campbell, Nicola I.
Paper Book
Winner of the TD Canadian Children's Literature Award and finalist for the Governor General's Award: Children's Illustration This moving sequel to the award-winning Shi-shi-etko tells the story of two children's experience at residential school. Shi-shi-etko is about to return for her...

Also available in eBook format.

La pirogue de Shin-chi
Campbell, Nicola I.
Paper Book
Winner of the TD Canadian Children's Literature Award and finalist for the Governor General's Award: Children's Illustration This moving sequel to the award-winning Shi-shi-etko tells the story of two children's experience at residential school. Shi-shi-etko is about to return for her...

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.

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...
As long as the rivers flow
Loyie, Oskiniko Larry
Paper Book
Starting in the 1800s and continuing into the 20th century, First Nations children were forcibly taken to government-sponsored residential schools to erase their traditional languages and cultures. This moving book tells of one such child, author Larry Loyie, and his last summer with his Cree tribe....
Tant que couleront les rivières
Loyie, Larry
Paper Book
Starting in the 1800s and continuing into the 20th century, First Nations children were forcibly taken to government-sponsored residential schools to erase their traditional languages and cultures. This moving book tells of one such child, author Larry Loyie, and his last summer with his Cree tribe....

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.

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.

Speaking our truth : a journey of reconciliation
Gray Smith, Monique
Ebook
Also available in eBook format.
The secret pocket
Janicki, Peggy
Paper Book
★"Captures the sympathy of readers and holds their attention...An age-appropriate telling by an Indigenous creative team of a tragic historical period."--School Library Journal, starred review The true story of how Indigenous girls at a residential school sewed secret pockets into...
Also available in eBook format.
Fatty legs : a true story
Jordan-Fenton, Christy.
Paper Book
Eight-year-old Margaret Pokiak has set her sights on learning to read, even though it means leaving her village in the high Arctic. Faced with unceasing pressure, her father finally agrees to let her make the five-day journey to attend school, but he warns Margaret of the terrors of residential...
Also available in DAISY and eBook format.
Les bas du pensionnat
Jordan-Fenton, Christy.
Paper Book
Eight-year-old Margaret Pokiak has set her sights on learning to read, even though it means leaving her village in the high Arctic. Faced with unceasing pressure, her father finally agrees to let her make the five-day journey to attend school, but he warns Margaret of the terrors of residential...
Orange Shirt Day, September 30th
n/a
Paper Book
Revised 2023 Edition. Orange Shirt Day, observed annually on September 30th, is also known as the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. It is an official day to honour Residential School Survivors and their families, and to remember the children who did not come home. What was initially...
My name is Seepeetza
Sterling, Shirley
Ebook
An honest look at life in an Indian residential school in the 1950s, and how one indomitable young spirit survived it -- 30th anniversary edition. Seepeetza loves living on Joyaska Ranch with her family. But when she is six years old, she is driven to the town of Kalamak, in the interior...
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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