She Holds Up the Stars

by Sandra Laronde

Paperback, 2022

Status

Available

Call number

FIC LAR

Call number

FIC LAR

Description

"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)

Publication

Annick Press (2022), 192 pages

Original language

English

Language

User reviews

LibraryThing member kristine.spaulding1
When Misko was just 4 years old, her mother disappeared without a trace, one of thousands of indigenous women and girls who go missing each year. Now 12 years old, Misko, a member of the Ojibway tribe, is sent to spend the summer with her Kokum (grandma) on the reservation after she escapes a
Show More
kidnapping attempt in Winnipeg, where she now lives with her aunt. It's here that Misko connects with her ancestors, their customs, and her heritage. While there, Misko meets Thomas, the Caucasian boy next door whose cruel father trains and sells horses and they strike up an unlikely friendship, bonding over Mishtadim, a horse that Misko has an indescribable connection to.

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.
Show Less

ISBN

1773210653 / 9781773210650
Page: 0.4361 seconds