Description
Les Mots Qu'il Me Reste Violette Pesheens, pensionnaire à l'école résidentielle, nord de l'ontario, 1966 is the French edition of Scholastic's Cher Journal (Dear Canada) series. This story is the work of Ojibwe scholar and author Ruby Slipperjack. This French edition is translated from English by Martine Faubert. This 178-page story diary presents the perspective of an Ojibwe girl who is forced to attend a residential school in 1966. Violette has to leave her loving home living with her grandma and attend a foreign institution run by nuns who insist on only speaking English and attending chapel daily. Dealing with number instead her name, Violette finds life challenging as she experiences a haircut and brutal delousing despite the lack of lice in her long hair, living in a dormitory much like a military barracks she once saw in a book's picture, all the girls wore the same uniform, and extreme loneliness. Food was a strange new world for the children who often went to bed hungry. One part-time staff person is the only friendly face among the adults. Ruby Slipperjack inserts some of her personal experiences and feelings based on her early years attending a residential school. A unique feature of this story about these schools involves the body changes of adolescent girls is addressed in this account. On the whole this account is a welcome addition to the residential school narratives especially for grades 5 to intermediate levels and French literature. Highly Recommended