These are My Words

These are My Words
Author: Ruby Slipperjack
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2016
Genre: Indian children
ISBN:

Twelve-year-old Violet Pesheens is taken away to Residential School in 1966. The diary recounts her experiences of travelling there, the first day, and first months, focusing on the everyday life she experiences--the school routine, battles with Cree girls, being quarantined over Christmas, getting home at Easter and reuniting with her family. When the time comes to gather at the train station for the trip back to the residential school, her mother looks her in the eye and asks, "Do you want to go back, or come with us to the trapline?" Violet knows the choice she must make.

Dear Canada: These Are My Words

Dear Canada: These Are My Words
Author: Ruby Slipperjack
Publisher: Scholastic Canada
Total Pages: 144
Release: 2016-09-01
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 1443133191

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.

Dear Canada: A Season for Miracles

Dear Canada: A Season for Miracles
Author: Gillian Chan
Publisher: Scholastic Canada
Total Pages: 202
Release: 2012-09-01
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 1443119962

Twelve original holiday stories from the top children's writers in the country! What an incredible gift book for Dear Canada fans! The twelve stories in this treasury are set around Christmas time and feature the young girls from a dozen previous Dear Canada books. Readers will be thrilled to reconnect with their favourites and get a glimpse of each character's life a year or so after the events in the actual diary are over. Anyone new to the Dear Canada series will be introduced to characters so compelling, they'll want to read more.

Dear Canada: To Stand on My Own

Dear Canada: To Stand on My Own
Author: Barbara Haworth-Attard
Publisher: Scholastic Canada
Total Pages: 148
Release: 2015-12-01
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 1443128155

The dark threat of polio becomes a reality for a young Prairie girl. In the summer of 1937, life on the Prairies is not easy. The Great Depression has brought great hardship, and young Noreen's family must scrimp to make ends meet. In a horrible twist of fate, Noreen, like hundreds of other young Canadians, contracts polio and is placed in an isolation ward, unable to move her legs. After a few weeks she gains partial recovery, but her family makes the painful decision to send her to a hospital far away for further treatment. To Stand On My Own is Noreen's diary account of her journey through recovery: her treatment; life in the ward; the other patients, some of them far worse off than her; adjustment to life in a wheelchair and on crutches; and ultimately, the emotional and physical hurdles she must face when she returns home. In this moving addition to the Dear Canada series, award-winning author Barbara Haworth-Attard recreates a desolate time in Canadian history, and one girl's brave fight against a deadly disease.

Orphan at My Door

Orphan at My Door
Author: Jean Little
Publisher: Markham, Ont. : Scholastic Canada
Total Pages: 232
Release: 2001
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN:

Through the diary of 10-year-old Victoria Cope, we learn about the arrival of ragged Mary Anna, one of the thousands of impoverished British children who were sent to Canada at the beginning of the century. Mary Anna joins the Cope family as a servant and is treated well, but she has to cope with the initial apprehension of the family members and the loss of her brother, Jasper, who was placed with another family. Victoria vows to help Mary Anna find her brother, so they can be a family once again.

Dear Canada: Flame and Ashes

Dear Canada: Flame and Ashes
Author: Janet McNaughton
Publisher: Scholastic Canada
Total Pages: 202
Release: 2014-09-01
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 1443139017

A touching "riches to rags" story set during the second-worst disaster in the history of Atlantic Canada. Eleven-year-old Triffie is the middle daughter of a well-to-do merchant. Triffie knows nothing about what it means to be poor — until the disastrous fire of 1892 burns down most of St. John's, Newfoundland, leaving Triffie's family and 15,000 others homeless. The fire claimed everything but their underwear, Mother's best china . . . and Triffie's journal. With no other options, Triffie's family moves into a filthy warehouse while they attempt to rebuild their lives from the ground up. The aftermath of the fire teaches Triffie a lot about what it means to survive. More importantly, she comes face to face with her own prejudices, and begins to develop a much greater appreciation for how the less fortunate live.

Dear Canada: Pieces of the Past

Dear Canada: Pieces of the Past
Author: Carol Matas
Publisher: Scholastic Canada
Total Pages: 169
Release: 2013-02-01
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 1443124567

A young Jewish girl recounts her experiences during a horrifying time in recent history. As Rose begins her diary, she is in her third home since coming to Winnipeg. Traumatized by her experiences in the Holocaust, she struggles to connect with others, and above all, to trust again. When her new guardian, Saul, tries to get Rose to deal with what happened to her during the war, she begins writing in her diary about how she survived the murder of the Jews in Poland by going into hiding. Memories of herself and her mother being taken in by those willing to risk sheltering Jews, moving from place to place, being constantly on the run to escape capture, begin to flood her diary pages. Recalling those harrowing days, includingwhen they stumbled on a resistance cell deep in the forest and lived underground in filthy conditions, begins to take its toll on Rose. As she delves deeper into her past, she is haunted by the most terrifying memory of all. Will she find the courage to bear witness to her mother's ultimate sacrifice?

Whispers of War

Whispers of War
Author: Kit Pearson
Publisher: Markham, Ont. : Scholastic Canada
Total Pages: 220
Release: 2002-01-01
Genre: Canada
ISBN: 9780439988360

In the summer of 1812, as rumours of a looming war become a reality, Susanna, her mother and sister are surviving as best they can while the men are fighting. As news of various battles reaches them, Susanna becomes even more concerned for the safety and well-being of her beloved brother and father. She is also torn between the loyalties of her best friend and her mother -- both Americans living in Upper Canada -- and her father's and brother's allegiance to General Brock and the King. But the night of the Battle of Queenston Heights, Susanna's main concern is for survival.

Brothers Far from Home

Brothers Far from Home
Author: Jean Little
Publisher: Markham, Ont. : Scholastic Canada
Total Pages: 235
Release: 2003
Genre: Canada
ISBN: 9780439969000

With more than 200,000 books in print, Dear Canada has fast become the historical fiction series for young girls. It has been two long years since Eliza's beloved older brother, Hugo, went away to war. Caught up in his enthusiasm, she couldn't understand her parent's less-than enthusiastic reaction. Now that her other brother Jack has also enlisted, she yearns for the safe return of both brothers. If only she had a friend that she could talk to about her feelings....

A Trail of Broken Dreams

A Trail of Broken Dreams
Author: Barbara Haworth-Attard
Publisher: Markham, Ont. : Scholastic Canada
Total Pages: 168
Release: 2004
Genre: Cariboo (B.C. : Regional district)
ISBN: 9780439974059

Still reeling from the death of her mother, Harriet sets out on a dangerous journey -- disguised as a boy, since no "petticoats" are allowed on the trip -- determined to find her missing father in the gold fields of British Columbia's Cariboo. The journey itself is incredibly difficult, and Harriet still has to find her father before the winter snows close down the entire Williams Creek area. Will she be able to find him, or will her journey be for nothing?