Ruby Slipperjack

Acclaimed author Ruby Slipperjack delivers a haunting novel about a 12-year-old girl's experience at a residential school in 1966. Violet Pesheens is struggling to adjust to her new life at residential school. She misses her Grandma; she has run-ins with Cree girls; at her "white" school, everyone just stares; and everything she brought has been taken from her, including her name-she is now just a number. But worst of all, she has a fear. A fear of forgetting the things she treasures most: her Anishnabe language; the names of those she knew before; and her traditional customs. A fear of forgetting who she was. Her notebook is the one place she can record all of her worries, and heartbreaks, and memories. And maybe, just maybe there will be hope at the end of the tunnel. Drawing from her own experiences at residential school, Ruby Slipperjack creates a brave, yet heartbreaking heroine in Violet, and lets young readers glimpse into an all-too important chapter in our nation's history.

The Residential School Diary of Violet Pesheens

These Are My Words

Erin 

I'm pretty sure that it was the Dear Canada books that got me into history and thus, pushed me into the future of getting a degree in it. This book is so important. So, so important. For those who do not know, recently Canada has been focusing on Truth and Reconciliation with the Indigenous People. Our history is filled with the horrors and tragedies of stealing children from their homes, forcing them to live and learn in horrendous residential schools, forbidden from speaking their language and harshly punishing them if they did anything to remind themselves of their previous lives. They were emotionally, psychologically, physically, and even sexually abused. From as young of an age as 5 years old, they were ripped from their homes and subject to this life. With often very little knowledge of life outside the residential schools, they were once again kicked out once they reached a certain age to fend for themselves in a world they had often not known since they were young. We would like to pretend that this did not happen, pretend that the schools may have done good to those that came from poor backgrounds. But this does not erase the fact that this did happen. This book takes place in the late sixties. My parents were born in the late sixties. The last residential school in Canada closed in the late nineties. I was born in the nineties. This is not old, or ancient. This is recent. 

This book is simply written, like all Dear Canada books are. The horrors are often not mentioned, but merely implied. Violet's innocence often makes us, as readers, shielded from the things that truly happened. But this book is good, and I am incredibly happy that Dear Canada has finally written a book on this perspective. I remember learning about the residential schools as a kid, and even then I could recognise the horror of forcing young children into these lifestyles. I wish I had this book then.

These Are My Words The Residential School Diary of Violet Pesheens

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