Status
Checked out
Call number
Call number
JP ROB
Collection
Local notes
Shelved in Aboriginal Collection - Youth
Description
"When a young girl helps tend to her grandmother's garden, she begins to notice things that make her curious. Why does her grandmother have long, braided hair and beautifully colored clothing? Why does she speak another language and spend so much time with her family? As she asks her grandmother about these things, she is told about life in a residential school a long time ago, where all of these things were taken away. When We Were Alone is a story about a difficult time in history, and, ultimately, one of empowerment and strength."--
Genres
Publication
Winnipeg, Manitoba : HighWater Press, [2016]
User reviews
LibraryThing member Salsabrarian
A young girl asks her grandmother why she always wears colorful clothes, keeps her hair long, speaks in the Cree language and spends time with her brother. Her kókom explains that the school she went to wanted the kids to dress all the same, have short haircuts, not speak in their home language
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and not spend time with family. But she and her friends would always find opportunities when together they could be who they really were. A lovely story that upends the bitter boarding school experience many native children went through in the Americas. This is a great supplement to any lessons and discussion of cultural genocide. Show Less
LibraryThing member StephLamb
It is essential that our children learn about the problems with the residential school system that subjected generations of First Nations peoples to the awfulness of losing their language, family, and identity. The best way to teach is through some of the many brilliant books that are available on
This book can be shared with even the littlest of readers. It explains how things were in a very delicate way, without too much information about the atrocities that we as adults know were perpetuated. It is the perfect first introduction to explaining the residential school system in an age appropriate way that all children can understand. I am particularly fond on the incorporation of the Cree language in the story to give children the sense of what was missing from the education of the First Nations children. As always, the beautiful, simple illustrations by Julie Flett bring life and colour to an otherwise heartbreaking story.
Published by Highwater Press, When We Were Alone is a must have for every primary classroom in Canada and a must read for every child.
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bookstore and library shelves. One such book is When We Were Alone by David Alexander Robertson. Told in questions posed from a little girl to her Nókom, we find out Nókom does the things she does today because she was not allowed to do them when she was at residential school. There are simple moments of joy in the story, where Nókom speaks of "when we were alone" and were able to say and do things to remind them of who they are and where they came from.This book can be shared with even the littlest of readers. It explains how things were in a very delicate way, without too much information about the atrocities that we as adults know were perpetuated. It is the perfect first introduction to explaining the residential school system in an age appropriate way that all children can understand. I am particularly fond on the incorporation of the Cree language in the story to give children the sense of what was missing from the education of the First Nations children. As always, the beautiful, simple illustrations by Julie Flett bring life and colour to an otherwise heartbreaking story.
Published by Highwater Press, When We Were Alone is a must have for every primary classroom in Canada and a must read for every child.
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LibraryThing member Lake_Oswego_UCC
A grandmother explains to her granddaughter how it is that she and her brother helped each other survive years of residential school. Lyrical illustrations for a beautifully told but heartbreaking story.
LibraryThing member jwyss
A powerful yet child friendly book that explains the devastating realities of the Canadian residential school system on indigenous/First Nations peoples. The granddaughter asks simple questions that reveal the harshness of her granny's childhood. However, the reader learns how this surviver has
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found her own ways to defy all pressures to assimilate. Show Less
LibraryThing member Carlathelibrarian
The residential schools were a terrible part of Canadian history, and it is important for children, and adults, to learn about this time, what it did to a proud people and what the fallout is still today.
This picture book tells about the experience of one person during the residential school time
I recommend this book to public, school, class and home libraries. This would be a great book to use when studying aboriginal people and their past in Canada.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read and review this book.
This picture book tells about the experience of one person during the residential school time
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in very simple terms. A little girl is helping her grandmother in the garden and begins to ask her questions. "Kókom, why do you dress in bright colors, why do you wear a long braid, why do you speak in Cree, why do you spend so much time with your brother?" Her kókom very simply explains about the residential schools where these things were all forbidden and how she, her friends and her brother tried to recreate so many things they had to do without when they were alone.I recommend this book to public, school, class and home libraries. This would be a great book to use when studying aboriginal people and their past in Canada.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read and review this book.
Show Less
LibraryThing member lydia1879
Adored this, adored Robertson's writing and Julie Flett's artwork.
So delicate, so compassionate and such a lovely work.
I'll include this in a video on my YouTube channel very soon.
So delicate, so compassionate and such a lovely work.
I'll include this in a video on my YouTube channel very soon.
LibraryThing member bmanglass
Moving and beautifully illustrated.
LibraryThing member sloth852
Story of life in residential schools.
ISBN
9781553796732