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"A young Indigenous girl searching for a sense of home finds strength and courage in her gifts, her deepening connection to the land, and her own cultural awakening in this moving coming-of-age story. The last thing that twelve-year-old Misko wants to do is to move away from the city to spend time on the rez with her grandmother. She feels strangely compelled to go to the place where her dreams have been tugging at her to come home. Maybe she can finally find out what happened to her mother, who mysteriously disappeared when she was four years old. Misko discovers her unique ability to connect to a spirited horse named Mishtadim who is being violently broken in by the rancher next door and his son, Thomas. Although Misko and Thomas challenge one another, their friendship is forged through the taming of the wild horse. In the process, she realizes the true meaning of belonging and that you can never truly leave home. She Holds Up the Stars is a powerful story of reconciliation and the interwoven threads that connect us to family, to the land, and to our own sense of self."--… (more)
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User reviews
This book was very enjoyable. As part of the backstory, we learn of this family's connection to the Canada's residential schools, "schools" where indigenous children were sent after they were forcibly removed from their homes, places filled with abuse and death, designed to break indigenous kids and kill the Indian in them. While heartbreaking, this only made the story that much more authentic. With themes such as racism, abuse, and discovering one's cultural identity, this book would be appropriate for middle school children and up.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.