Stolen Words by Melanie Florence
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
With tears still in my eyes after reading, this I want to get my feelings down about this sweet, short picture book. So simple, only 13 pages long, but with such impact, I might as well as read a whole novel.
A little girl comes home from school and asks her grandfather how to say grandfather in Cree, since they are of those people. Alas, her grandfather has lost all his words, because he was forbidden to speak them when he went to residential school. He explains this in such simple ways, but gets the idea across:
“[They took me] away to a school that was cold and lonely, where angry white faces raised their voices and their hands when we used our words,” he answered. “They took our words and locked them away, punished us until we forgot them, until we sounded like them.”
Such a powerful way to explain what happened, with lovely pictures, the words becoming a cadged bird as they flew from their mouths.
Is this book relevant? Damn right it is. Is this book needed? Damn right it is. Does this book made you cry and rage at the same time. Damn right it does.
With stories in the news such as this one, where a senator says that residential schools weren’t all bad? Sheesh, we need a whole boat load of books like this.
Highly, highly recommend this book to all libraries, homes, and schools, both in Canada, and the US. This history needs to be told, and told again.
Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review. Thank you Second Story Press for publishing these, and other important books.