Kids can’t help but know about native residential schools now, so here are some books that might help explain the system and the long-lasting, generational, effects of it in ways they can understand.
4-7s
The Orange Shirt by Phyllis Webstad
Stolen Words by Melanie Florence
When We Were Alone by David A Robertson
7-9s
I Am Not A Number by Jenny Kay Dupuis & Kathy Kacer
As Long As The Rivers Flow by Larry Loyie (Native life before residential schools)
No Time To Say Goodbye by Sylvia Olsen
Not My Girl by Christy Jordan Fenton and Margaret Olemaun Pokiak-Fenton
(Junior Version of A Stranger At Home)
When I Was Eight by Christy Jordan Fenton and Margaret Olemaun Pokiak-Fenton
(Junior Version of Fatty Legs)
10-13s
The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich (Native life before residential schools)
Dear Canada: These Are My Words by Ruby Slipperjack
Fatty Legs by Christy Jordan Fenton and Margaret Olemaun Pokiak-Fenton
A Stranger At Home by Christy Jordan Fenton and Margaret Olemaun Pokiak-Fenton
Teens
Fly Away, Snow Goose by Juliet Waldron & John Wisdomkeeper
Sugar Falls by David A. Robertson (Graphic Novel Format)
Older Teens & Adults
Behind Closed Doors by Jack Agnes (Editor) (Non-Fiction: Kamloops Residential School)
The Education of Augie Merasty by Joseph Auguste Merasty (Memoir)
Five Little Indians by Michelle Good
Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese
Residential Schools by Larry Loyie (Non-Fiction)
They Called Me Number One by Bev Sellars (Memoir)
Older Teen & Adult Videos
We Were Children: https://www.nfb.ca/film/we_were_children/
Where The Spirit Lives: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aW4tzklTLQ
