Christy Jordan-Fenton

The story is of an Inuit girl who returns home to her family after being sent to a First Peoples/Native American boarding school, probably forcibly by the government. These acts of cultural genocide tore families apart, killed Native/Indigenous languages, cultures, and communities. This children's story aptly tells of a child's experience and how hard it was to return to her family. In the story, the protagonist steps off a boat and hears her mother's shock in the words "Not My Girl" and the show more story talks about how she has to relearn how to join her community.

The story is an important one to be shared with children and adults today. The last Native American boarding school only closed about 30-40 years ago which means there are still parents and grandparents who remember this horrific time period. This book should be read and talked about and included in school libraries and classrooms. I hope it doesn't end up in clearance bins, sweeping aside inconvenient history is how racism survives. show less

Desperate to learn to read, 8-year-old Olemaun badgers her father to let her leave her island home to go to the residential school for Inuit children in Aklavik, in Canada’s far north. There she encounters a particularly mean nun who renames her Margaret but cannot “educate” her into submission. The determination and underlying positive nature of this Inuvialuit child shine through the first-person narration that describes her first two years in boarding school, where their regular show more chores include emptying “honey buckets.” The torments of the nun she calls “Raven” are unrelenting, culminating in her assignment to wear a used pair of ill-fitting red stockings—giving her the mocking name found in the title. The “Margaret” of the story is co-author, along with her daughter-in-law. Opening with a map, the book closes with a photo album, images from her childhood and from archives showing Inuit life at the time. The beautiful design includes thumbnails of these pictures at the appropriate places in the text and Amini-Holmes’ slightly surreal paintings, which capture the alien flavor of these schools for their students. A moving and believable account. (Memoir. 8-12)

- Kirkus Review show less

I’ve looked at several different accounts of residential schools, the places where native Americans from different areas were sent to be “civilized”, in Canada specifically from the mid-1800s to the 1960s. This is the best story I’ve found so far for younger children to explain this tragic episode in history.

This is the true story of one of the authors, Margaret Pokiak-Fenton, told with the help of her daughter-in-law, Christy Jordan-Fenton. Olemaun, a member of the Inuvialuktun show more people group of the western Arctic, is fascinated by the idea of reading. Her older sister, Ayouniq, has been to the residential school and is now called Rosie and she can read from the books their father gave her. Olemaun begs constantly to be allowed to attend the school, despite the warnings from both her father and Rosie of how the outsiders will humiliate her and crush her spirit. But Olemaun is stubborn and finally her father gives in. She will go to the outsider’s school. Olemaun is sure that she will learn to read right away and as long as she is good she will not be punished. She will quickly return to her family with her new skills and all will be well.

She is wrong. A cruel nun, who Olemaun dubs the Raven, cuts her hair, gives her a new name, Margaret, and jeers at her because she cannot speak English. She has one friend from her own tribe, Agnes, but the other girls make fun of them. Margaret learns, to her horror, that she will not learn to read for many months; there is no school in the summer, only work and constant abuse from the other girls, the nuns, and occasionally the brothers. She is humiliated, hungry, and angry. When it is finally time to learn to read, the cruel Raven humiliates Margaret for her ignorance.

But Margaret refuses to be broken. She studies hard and learns to read, write, and do arithmetic. She plans to learn as much as she can so she can go home before another tortuous summer. Then the letter comes. The ice has not broken, her parents cannot return, and she is trapped for another year. The Raven dictates her letters so she cannot write home to beg her parents to send someone, and when the girls go on radio to talk to their parents, they are given a script. Margaret still stands firm; she refuses to speak one word. The Raven’s final humiliation is a pair of bright red stockings, when all the other girls receive new grey ones. Now Margaret must suffer even more humiliation and abuse from the other girls. Even Agnes is reluctant to be her friend anymore and share in the abuse. But Margaret’s spirit remains strong and she finds a way to fight back and finally break the Raven’s hold over her. Margaret returns to her family the next year but it is a painful reunion as she must learn to be a member of her tribe again, rather than an outsider.

After notes explain what happened to Olemaun/Margaret after she returned to her family and discuss residential schools, how they damaged native tribes and how the children who suffered there are finally able to speak out against what happened to them. The small photos sprinkled throughout the book are footnoted to the back pages, where they appear full size. There are short biographical pieces on each of the authors and the illustrator. Liz Amini-Holmes’ illustrations are atmospheric and dark, showing Olemaun and her family, and her encounters with the nuns and other girls at the school. The illustrations add emotional depth to the retelling of Margaret’s story.

This is an excellent book to hand to 8-12 year olds as well as teens to explain the impact residential schools have had on native groups. The authors don’t shy away from the harsh realities, but the story is told in a way that doesn’t emphasize the abuse, but rather the indomitable spirit of Margaret. Children will be able to empathize with her trials, thinking of times they have been teased or had a teacher who disliked them, rather than seeing this as a remote historical event.

Verdict: Highly recommended for your nonfiction sections. Real stories always have much more of an impact than bland histories and this story really brings home a part of North American history many people are unfamiliar with. I’m going to put it in my biography section.

ISBN: 9781554512478; Published June 3, 2010; Borrowed from another library; Purchased for my library. show less

Told from the perspective of a young Inuit girl, this autobiographical account of residential school life is both heartbreaking and inspiring. The writing is simple but deeply emotional, and the story highlights the pain of colonialism while celebrating determination and the desire to learn. A necessary and accessible introduction to Indigenous history for young readers.