Dear Canada: These Are My Words

Violet Pesheens is struggling to adjust to her new life at residential school. Everything she brought has been taken from her, including her name; she is now just a number. She also misses her Grandma, has run-ins with Cree girls and faces stares — and worse — at her “white” school. But worst of all, she is afraid of forgetting the things she treasures most: her Anishnabe language, the names of people she knew before and her traditional ways of life. She is afraid of forgetting who she was.

Violet’s notebook is the only place where she can record all of her worries, heartbreaks and memories. And maybe, just maybe, she will find hope in sharing her words.

Drawing from her own experiences at residential school, Ruby Slipperjack creates a brave yet heartbreaking heroine in Violet and gives young readers a window into this dark chapter in Canada’s history.