is a very slight picture book about the indigenous residential school experience, As she works in the garden, a little girl asks her grandmother about her clothing, her hair, her language, and her regular visits with her brother the little girls great uncle.
What has made her grandmother the way she is The grandmother explains in simple language the deprivations of residential school life: the depressing, colourless uniforms the children were made to wear, the cutting of the beautiful long hair they had been so proud of, the fact that they were forbidden to speak Cree, and were not permitted to associate with their own family members.
The only place the children could get around these limitations was outdoors, Nature provided them with colourful leaves in autumn to place over themselves, grass that could be braided like hair, and space away from teachers to whisper their language and maybe hold a siblings hand.
Julie Fletts illustrations are simple and serviceable, but theyre no great favourites of mine, I find this a satisfactory text, but I much prefer two other recent similarly themed picture books that have a lot more heart and more sophisticated artwork: Jenny Kay Dupuiss I Am Not a Number and Melanie Florences Stolen Words.
Id choose either of those over this one,.ish.
A worthy historical tale told powerfully through the storytelling medium of the picture book,
Sometimes I think we fear that certain subjects are too sensitive or heavy to expose children to.
I believe it's really just a matter of how things are presented, In this story a Cree grandmother sensitively explains the proud traditions she carries out to her curious granddaughter.
The little girl's kókom is given a voice as the book relates, without excessive bitterness or accusation, her experiences in the residential schools that are now part of Canada's history where she was forced to assimilate into EuroCanadian culture.
Far from being victims, however, the kókom as a young girl and her friends managed to preserve their heritage in other ways.
The pallet of Julie Flett's finely crafted illustrations is gorgeous and the pictures bring life to Robertson's story.
This would be a great tool to use in school as well as a beautiful book to keep on the shelf at home.
Illustrations:.
Story:
A young girl helps her kókom grandmother in the garden, She asks her kókom questions, and the answers go back to the time when her kókom was sent away to school.
This book deals with the history of residential schools for Native American children, The focus is on the attempts to stop the children from practising their culture, They weren't allowed to have long hair or speak Cree at the school, Everything they were not allowed to do was to make them like everyone else in other words, like white people, but the children fought back in small ways by doing the forbidden things when they were alone.
The story of the school is told through the young girl asking questions, such as asking why her kókom has long hair, and being told about the school cutting the children's hair.
This makes it a generally positive book, as her kókom survived and is able to live as she wants.
However, there are also hints that it's not all in the past, The girl doesn't face being taken away from her family and community, but she lives in a world where most people in the media will be white, and someone like her kókom is seen as different.
There's that unspoken implication to the questions of the pressure still being there, because those questions wouldn't be raised if the girl's family was considered to be like everybody else.
The pictures look like collages, with additional painting and drawing for detail and texture, It creates a bold and colourful feel, which works well with the theme of the girl's kókom dressing brightly and not being afraid to show her culture.
My favourite page is the flying bird with the Cree text around it the words repeated from the main story, as it feels like a celebration.
Despite all of the attempts, the girl and her kókom are free to speak as they want to speak.
I enjoyed this book, It's a quiet and subtle handling of the topic, The art and story are a good match, It is perhaps a little too subtle for readers who don't already know the history of the residential schools.
For example, the text doesn't make it clear who made the children go to the school, This could be something to discuss with readers after finishing the book,
A copy of this book was received from the publisher for review purposes
: sitelink polenthblake. com/whenwewerealone/ From sitelinkmy blog review:
I have Debbie Reese to thank for sitelinkdrawing my attention to David A.
Robertson and Julie Flett's sitelinkWhen We Were Alone published by Portage and Main Press.
Done simply, but with devastating clearness this is the story of a woman telling her granddaughter of her time in one of the boarding schools to which Canadian First Nation children were taken.
She tells of the brutal methods used to strip them of their own cultures and how they managed to quietly, but firmly resist this.
The lovely illustrations further the powerful emotional clout of this important book, I would have picked up and read this book just because, you know, Julie Flett! I adore her illustrations.
In this narrative, a young girl spends time with her Nokom grandmother and wonders why she does the things she does.
The girl questions how she dresses, wears her hair, why she speaks Cree, and spends so much time with her brother.
We readers learn, along with the girl, that this is how her Nokom celebrates her life in contrast to her experiences in residential school.
I highly recommend this one for all libraries, A young girl is helping her grandmother in the garden, She asks here why she wears bright colors, and why she wears a braid and why she talks in Cree.
With each question her grandmother tells about when she went to school and all the things that they weren't allowed to do like wear bright colors, have long hair and speak their native language.
It's a very sweet and at the same time sad book, When a book makes you cry, This is so sad and beautiful, This is a beautiful, beautiful book, one every teacher should read to their students, This book is a wonderful way to introduce conversations about residential schools, The text will not scare children, but will deliver hard truths,
David Alexander Robertson's When We Were Alone poignantly begins with a young First Nations girl asking her grandmother, asking her kokom whom she is helping in the garden why she wears clothing of so many different colours.
And her kokom's, her grandmother's response is that this is her own personal way of reclaiming herself, and being a person with the right to choose, because at school, because at the government residential schools she and so many First Nations children were mandated, were officially forced to attend, the teachers, nuns, priests and pastors in charge generally dressed ALL of the students, all of the children exactly the same limiting their rights even with regard to the types of clothing permitted, which I guess is also somewhat the case and similar for many private schools or even public schools with dress codes, except that both First Nations children and their families did not ever have ANY choice in this matter, for these residential schools were absolutely mandatory and parents could, and often would easily lose custody of their children and even risk jail time if they tried to keep their kids out of residential school.
And thus, and basically, everything the little girl's grandmother does in When We Were Alone, everything she wears now and how she acts is generally a sweet and yes, a very much optimistic and positive, often small, but ultimately significant act of quiet rebellion, of reclamation of her soul and spirit from the clutches of the residential school monster and its grasping tentacles, from the draconian and often racist, bigoted regulations of the residential school system as a whole the already mentioned colourful clothing, the grandmother's long hair, her use of and pride in the Cree language, the use of which was absolutely forbidden at school, spending as much time as possible with her siblings, as at residential school, families were more often than not separated and contact unfortunately even punished.
Now When We Were Alone does not ever delve in any manner too deeply into the true horrors of what so often transpired at these residential schools that First Nations children were considered less than human by many if not the majority of their teachers, that they endured both physical and emotional, as well as sexual abuse, that residential schools were basically and yes sadly for the most part a program of deliberate government and church sanctioned cultural genocide, designed to take away First Nations' culture, their language, their pride and sense of self.
However, for a basic introduction for younger children, When We Were Alone is in my opinion a perfect starting point, and even for older children, the book is of much potential value and use, if there are also additional discussions encouraged and supplemental information provided with Julie Flett's brilliantly expressive, yet simple illustrations acting as a lovely and evocative, thoughtprovoking accompaniment, showing for example, the grandmother's love of colour and her long, flowing hair in contrast to the shorn heads of the residential school students with their drab and very much aesthetically ugly uniforms, the generally dreary and sad school atmosphere compared to colourful and soul sustaining beautiful gardens and nature.
Four shining and most highly rcommended and the only reason I have not ranked When We Were Alone with five is that personally, I do think it would be of academic interest and benefit for David Alexander Robertson to include an author's note with additional information on the residential school system, along with suggestions for further reading, and last but not least a Cree/English glossary, for while I do appreciate that the Cree the grandmother speaks to the bird is translated as a footnote, a glossary would make actually trying to figure out a bit of Cree that much easier.
This beautifully illustrated story of warmth and love between a grandmother and her grandchild depicts a survivortochild conversation about the residential school experience.
The curious child asks her grandmother why she wears so many bright colours, speaks Cree, keeps her hair so long.
. . and her grandmother gently describes the restrictions placed on her back when she was a child in residential school.
She explains that now she is free to be with her family, speak her language, and live her culture.
Takes on history of indigenous people being removed from their homes and removed from their culture through the conversation between a grandma and her granddaughter.
It is a quiet book of resilience and resistance,
It's a difficult topic to share in a children's book, but it is done beautifully by both David A.
Robertson and Julie Flett. The first thing I noticed upon starting When We Were Alone were the gorgeous illustrations that were detailed in all the right places.
It was eyebending in its beauty,
This picture book begins with a young girl helping out in her grandmother's garden, when she begins to notice things that make her curious.
Why does her grandmother have long braided hair and beautifully colored clothing
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Why does she speak another language and spend so much time with her family
As she asks her grandmother about these things, she is told about life in a residential school a long time ago, where all of these things were taken away.
"They wanted us to look like everyone else, "
Along with the granddaughter, we get to be taken into the past and present of her grandmother's life and see the freedom she yearned to reach.
. . and eventually received.
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"Here little bird, eat, so you will get big and strong, "
And since I've been sharing a few of the outstanding illustrations, I reckoned why not share a few more:
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I've been looking around the page at every detail for hours!!
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When We Were Alone was an exceptional story about a difficult time in history and, ultimately, one of empowerment and strength.
And I've reread it a couple of times now
for exactly those reasons,
ARC kindly provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review,
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David Alexander Robertson