The great uncle of a young Mi'gmaq girl tells how a government train would come to their community and take the children away to an off-reservation residential boarding school.
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- Staff-Created List
Picture Books: Residential Schools
This list features stories reflect the residential school experience in different ways, sparking conversation with kids and adults alike.
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Squamish Public Library
User from Squamish Public Library
20 items
- Through simple, heartfelt text and vivid illustrations that combine contemporary and traditional Indigenous motifs, White Raven is an engaging teaching tool as well as a relatable narrative about the impact of intergenerational trauma on families.
- A vivid dream teaches Little Wolf about courage and acceptance of those who are different, and inspires her to show her daughters and their classmates how to be proud of their diverse cultural backgrounds.
- This illustrated nonfiction picture book tells the true story of how a group of girls at a residential school sewed secret pockets into their clothes to hide food.
- A short rhyming story for readers about Phyllis Webstad’s experience attending residential school, the story behind Orange Shirt day.
- Learn the meaning behind the phrase, "Every Child Matters." Orange Shirt Day founder Phyllis Webstad offers insights into this heartfelt movement.
- Told in the voice of a boy and his father by turns, this book takes a thoughtful and heartfelt look at the emotional toll of a child being taken from their family and community to attend residential school.
- A story about a difficult time in history and, ultimately, a story of empowerment and strength.
- Richly hued illustrations complement this gently moving and poetic account of a child who finds solace all around her, even though she is on the verge of great loss -- a loss that native people have endured for generations because of the residential…
- 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.
- A true story of a girl whose resilient spirit helps her to overcome the cruel torment she receives from both students and adults at a residential school.
- Ten-year-old Margaret can hardly contain her excitement. After two years in a residential boarding school, she is finally headed for home. But when she stands before her family at last, her mother doesn't recognize her.
- One of Rita Joe's most influential poems, “I Lost My Talk” tells the revered Mi'kmaw Elder's childhood story of losing her language while a resident of the residential school in Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia.
- A picture book based on a true story about a young First Nations girl who was sent to a residential school.
- A fictional account of five children sent to residential school, based on the recollections of a number of Tsartlip First Nations people.
- An honest, inside look at life in an Indian residential school in the 1950s, and how one indomitable young spirit survived it.
- Two twin sisters spend a summer with their grandmother, learning about her experiences in residential school and ultimately discovering the meaning of intergenerational survival and reconciliation.
- When Shin-chi and his sister go off to his first year of Residential School in a cattle truck, she warns him of all the things he must not do. The days are long, he is very lonely and alwlays hungry, but he find solace down at the river with a gift…
- This picture book explores the intergenerational impact of Canada's residential school system that separated Indigenous children from their families.
- A story for children about Phyllis Webstad’s experience of the First Nations residential school system in Canada.
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