Trailblazer. Residential school Survivor. First Treaty Indigenous player in the NHL. All of these descriptions are true--but none of them tell the whole story. Fred Sasakamoose, torn from his home at the age of seven, endured the horrors of residential school for a decade before becoming one of 120 players in the most elite hockey league in the world. He has been heralded as the first Indigenous player with Treaty status in the NHL, making his debut with the 1954 Chicago Black Hawks on Hockey Night in Canada and teaching Foster Hewitt how to pronounce his name. Sasakamoose played against such legends as Gordie Howe, Jean Beliveau, and Maurice Richard. After twelve games, he returned home. When people tell Sasakamoose's story, this is usually where they end it. They say he left the NHL to return to the family and culture that the Canadian government had ripped away from him. That returning to his family and home was more important to him than an NHL career. But there was much more to his decision than that. Understanding Sasakamoose's decision to return home means grappling with the dislocation and treatment of generations of Indigenous peoples. It means grasping how a man who spent his childhood as a ward of the government would hear those supposedly golden words: "You are Black Hawks property." Sasakamoose's story was far from over. He continued to play for another decade in leagues around Western Canada. He became a band councillor, served as Chief, and formed athletic programs for kids. He paved a way for youth to find solace and meaning in sports for generations to come. Yet, threaded through these impressive accomplishments were periods of heartbreak and unimaginable tragedy--as well moments of passion and great joy. This isn't just a hockey story; Sasakamoose's groundbreaking memoir intersects Canadian history and Indigenous politics, and follows his journey to reclaim pride in an identity that had previously been used against him.

Acclaimed author Ruby Slipperjack delivers a haunting novel about a 12-year-old girl's experience at a residential school in 1966. Violet Pesheens is struggling to adjust to her new life at residential school. She misses her Grandma; she has run-ins with Cree girls; at her "white" school, everyone just stares; and everything she brought has been taken from her, including her name-she is now just a number. But worst of all, she has a fear. A fear of forgetting the things she treasures most: her Anishnabe language; the names of those she knew before; and her traditional customs. A fear of forgetting who she was. Her notebook is the one place she can record all of her worries, and heartbreaks, and memories. And maybe, just maybe there will be hope at the end of the tunnel. Drawing from her own experiences at residential school, Ruby Slipperjack creates a brave, yet heartbreaking heroine in Violet, and lets young readers glimpse into an all-too important chapter in our nation's history.

When seven-year-old Muinji'j comes home from school one day, her Nana and Papa can tell right away that she's upset. Her teacher has been speaking about the residential schools. Unlike most of her fellow students, Muinji'j has always known about the residential schools. But what she doesn't understand is why the schools existed and why children would have died there. Nana and Papa take Muinji'j aside and tell her the whole story, from the beginning. They help her understand all of the decisions that were made for the Mi'kmaq, not with the Mi'kmaq, and how those decisions hurt her people. They tell her the story of her people before their traditional ways were made illegal, before they were separated and sent to reservations, before their words, their beliefs, and eventually, their children, were taken from them. A poignant, honest, and necessary book featuring brilliant artwork from Mi'kmaw artist Zeta Paul and words inspired by Muinji'j MacEachern's true story, Muinji'j Asks Why will inspire conversation, understanding, and allyship for readers of all ages.

It's a rare book that can make the tried-and-true genre of the coming-of-age novel seem novel. There are the standard markers of the hero's journey - the trials, the dark night of the soul, the lesson learned. From Printz honor author Eric Gansworth comes My Good Man, a literary tour-de-force sure to turn the genre on its head. Brian, a 20-something reporter on the Niagara Cascade's City Desk, is navigating life as the only Indigenous writer in the newsroom, being lumped into reporting on stereotypical stories that homogenize his community, the nearby Tuscarora reservation. But when a mysterious roadside assault lands Tim, the brother of Brian's mother's late boyfriend in the hospital, Brian must pick up the threads of a life that he's abandoned. The resulting narrative takes us through Brian's childhood and slice of life stories on the reservation, in Gansworth's signature blend of crystal sharp, heartfelt literary realist prose. But perhaps more importantly, it takes us through Brian's attempt to balance himself between Haudenosaunee and American life, between the version of his story that would prize the individual over all else and the version of himself that depends on the entire community's survival.

An honest, inside look at life in an Indian residential school in the 1950s, and how one indomitable young spirit survived it -- 30th anniversary edition. Seepeetza loves living on Joyaska Ranch with her family. But when she is six years old, she is driven to the town of Kalamak, in the interior of British Columbia. Seepeetza will now spend the next several years of her life at an Indian residential school. The nuns call her Martha and cut her hair. Worst of all, she is forbidden to "talk Indian," even with her sisters and cousins. In spite of this, Seepeetza looks for bright spots -- the cookie she receives as a Hallowe'en treat, the dance practices. Most of all, there are the memories of her summers and holidays back on her family farm -- camping trips, horseback riding with her sister, picking berries and cleaning fish with her mother, aunt and grandmother. Always, thoughts of home make her school life bearable. Based on her own experiences, this powerful novel by Shirley Sterling, of the Nlaka'pamux Nation, is a moving account of one of the most blatant expressions of racism in the history of Canada. Includes a new afterword. Key Text Features afterword dialogue journal entries maps Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.2 Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text; summarize the text. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.1 Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.6 Explain how an author develops the point of view of the narrator or speaker in a text.

Looks at the experiences of a young Inuit girl returning from a residential religious school, where she is not recognized by her mother and is seen as an outsider.

This novel tells the story of Red Wolf, a young First Nations boy forced to move into a residential school and assume a new identity. Paralleling his story is that of Crooked Ear, an orphaned wolf pup he has befriended. Both must learn to survive in the white man's world.

Willow wants to go back to the city, but one thing keeps her on the rez. Aunt Pauline promises Willow that moving back to the rez and living with her grandmother is only temporary. As days and weeks pass, however, the twelve-year-old girl realizes that her aunt is not coming back and that her grandmother's house is now home. What is Willow supposed to do? Her elderly grandmother barely speaks; all her friends are back in the city, and Thomas, the boy next door, is hostile to her and cruel to his animals. But there is one thing that makes life bearable: Mistatim, Thomas's horse, with whom Willow established a connection as soon as she arrived. Finding herself more and more drawn to her new home, Willow explores the land around her seeking clues to her family's past--including the mysterious disappearance of her mother, years before. Meanwhile, her determination to protect Mistatim from the brutal treatment meted out by Thomas and his father grows, leading her to an unexpected friendship.

Willow wants to go back to the city, but one thing keeps her on the rez. Aunt Pauline promises Willow that moving back to the rez and living with her grandmother is only temporary. As days and weeks pass, however, the twelve-year-old girl realizes that her aunt is not coming back and that her grandmother's house is now home. What is Willow supposed to do? Her elderly grandmother barely speaks; all her friends are back in the city, and Thomas, the boy next door, is hostile to her and cruel to his animals. But there is one thing that makes life bearable: Mistatim, Thomas's horse, with whom Willow established a connection as soon as she arrived. Finding herself more and more drawn to her new home, Willow explores the land around her seeking clues to her family's past--including the mysterious disappearance of her mother, years before. Meanwhile, her determination to protect Mistatim from the brutal treatment meted out by Thomas and his father grows, leading her to an unexpected friendship.