Book
When we were alone / David Alexander Robertson ; Julie Flett, illustrator.
When a young girl helps tend to her grandmother's garden, she begins to notice things about her grandmother that make her curious. Why does her grandmother have long braided hair and wear beautifully coloured clothing? 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 everything was taken away. When We Were Alone is a story about a difficult time in history and, ultimately, a story of empowerment and strength.
Record details
- ISBN: 9781553796732
- Physical Description: 26 unnumbered pages : colour illustrations ; 22 cm
- Publisher: Winnipeg, Manitoba : HighWater Press, 2016.
- Copyright: ©2016.
Content descriptions
| Biographical or Historical Data: |
Search for related items by subject
| Subject: | Native peoples > Canada > Residential schools > Juvenile fiction. Indigenous authors. |
Available copies
- 1 of 1 copy available at Westcoast Early Learning Library.
Holds
- 0 current holds with 1 total copy.
Show Only Available Copies
| Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Holdable? | Status | Due Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Westcoast Early Learning Library | ROBE 2016 (Text) | 35200000727995 | Childrens Fiction | Volume hold | Available | - |
- Booklist Reviews : Booklist Reviews 2017 March #2
*Starred Review* A young girl helping her grandmother in the garden asks Nókum a series of questions: "Why do you wear so many colors?" "Why do you wear your hair so long?" "Why do you speak in Cree?" "Why do you and Nókomis always spend time together?" The answers relate to the years Nókum spent in residential school as a child, where she was instructed to wear a drab uniform, compelled to cut her hair short, forced to speak only English, and forbidden from spending time with family. As an adult, she remembers these injustices, but she chooses to respond in positive ways, enjoying beautiful colors, wearing her hair long, speaking her native language, and spending time with her brother. Robertson's succinct yet lyrical prose evokes the not-so-distant past when indigenous Canadian (and American) children were removed from their families and placed in boarding schools whose main goal was to eradicate their Native cultural ways. Flett's mixed-media collage artwork echoes Robertson's forthright text as she alternates between colorful contemporary spreads and more muted residential school scenes. Each spread is compelling in its own way, offering remarkable depictions of resilience and the strong emotional ties within this family. An empowering and important story. Copyright 2017 Booklist Reviews. - Horn Book Guide Reviews : Horn Book Guide Reviews 2017 Fall
This quiet story is about love and resistance during the decades-long era of oppressive residential schools for First Nations children in Canada. A contemporary girl asks her grandmother several questions; Nskom answers by discussing the residential school she attended. Through descriptive language and repetition, Robertson describes the seasons of Nskom's resistance. Flett's collage illustrations, with their simplicity and earthy colors, are soulful and gentle. Copyright 2017 Horn Book Guide Reviews. - Horn Book Magazine Reviews : Horn Book Magazine Reviews 2017 #2
This quiet story is one of love and resistance during the decades-long era of oppressive residential schools for First Nations children in Canada. While spending the day with her grandmother, a contemporary girl has several questions, beginning with "Nokom, why do you wear so many colours?" Nokom answers by telling her granddaughter that at the residential school she was sent to as a child, students wore colorless uniforms. She goes on to say, "Sometimes in the fall, when we were aloneâ¦we would pile the leaves over the clothes they had given us, and we would be colourful again. And this made us happy." As the title of the book suggests, Nokom and the other students found strength in quiet moments when they could be alone. Through descriptive language and an effective use of repetition, Robertson describes the seasons of Nokom's resistance ("Sometimes in the spring, when we were alone⦠Sometimes in the summer, when we were aloneâ¦"). Flett's collage illustrations, with their simplicity and earthy colors, are soulful and gentle; the double-page spreads of the children enjoying nature are particularly beautiful. This is an Indigenous story (the illustrations show a White person only once, and only from the back); the cover image of two Cree girls smiling out at us celebrates this. Readers unfamiliar with the history of residential schools may need some background in order to get the most out of this story, but all readers will connect with how Nokom lives in celebration of colors, her long hair, her language, and, most of all, her family. alia jones Copyright 2017 Horn Book Magazine Reviews. - Kirkus Reviews : Kirkus Reviews 2016 October #2
In this illustrated book for children ages 4 to 8, a curious girl learns about how her grandmother held on to cultural touchstones when she was a child at a Native American residential school. The young girl who narrates this book notices one day, while helping her grandmother in the garden, that her Nókom (Cree for "grandmother") always does certain things. She dons colorful clothes; wears her hair long; speaks in Cree; and spends time with her brother, talking and laughing. But why? The book explains in the rhythm of a poem or song, repeating the structure of question and answer. For example, the girl asks, "Nókom, why do you wear so many colours?" and the grandmother replies, "Well, Nósisimâ¦" and begins her story. She explains that as a girl, she once liked to wear many colors, but at her far-away school, all the children were dressed the same. Why? " âThey didn't like that we wore such beautiful colours,' Nókom said. âThey wanted us to look like everybody else.' " But in autumn, the girls would pile kaleidoscopic fallen leaves on themselves and found happiness that way. Now, Nókom always wears the most beautiful hues. Similar explanations follow: the school cut the girls' hair, wouldn't let them speak Cree, and separated family members, all to enforce conformity. Today, though, Nókom can flaunt her culture openly. Robertson (The Chief: Mistahimaskwa, 2016, etc.) handles a delicate task here admirably well: explaining residential schools, that shameful legacy, and making them understandable to small children. It's a dark history, and the author doesn't disguise that, but he wisely focuses the grandmother's tale on how, season by season, the students use creativity, imagination, and patience to retain their sense of identity. A beautifully quiet, bold strength arises from the continued refrain "When we were alone" and in how the children insisted on being themselves. Flett's (We Sang You Home, 2016, etc.) gorgeous, skillful illustrations have a flattened, faux naïve feel to them, like construction paper collage, a style that works perfectly with the story. She nicely contrasts the school's dull browns and grays with the riotous colors surrounding Nókom and gets much expression from her simple silhouettes. Spare, poetic, and moving, this Cree heritage story makes a powerful impression. Copyright Kirkus 2016 Kirkus/BPI Communications. All rights reserved. - Kirkus Reviews : Kirkus Reviews 2016 November #2
In this illustrated book for children ages 4 to 8, a curious girl learns about how her grandmother held on to cultural touchstones when she was a child at a Native American residential school. The young girl who narrates this book notices one day, while helping her grandmother in the garden, that her Nókom (Cree for "grandmother") always does certain things. She dons colorful clothes; wears her hair long; speaks in Cree; and spends time with her brother, talking and laughing. But why? The book explains in the rhythm of a poem or song, repeating the structure of question and answer. For example, the girl asks, "Nókom, why do you wear so many colours?" and the grandmother replies, "Well, Nósisimâ¦" and begins her story. She explains that as a girl, she once liked to wear many colors, but at her far-away school, all the children were dressed the same. Why? " âThey didn't like that we wore such beautiful colours,' Nókom said. âThey wanted us to look like everybody else.' " But in autumn, the girls would pile kaleidoscopic fallen leaves on themselves and found happiness that way. Now, Nókom always wears the most beautiful hues. Similar explanations follow: the school cut the girls' hair, wouldn't let them speak Cree, and separated family members, all to enforce conformity. Today, though, Nókom can flaunt her culture openly. Robertson (The Chief: Mistahimaskwa, 2016, etc.) handles a delicate task here admirably well: explaining residential schools, that shameful legacy, and making them understandable to small children. It's a dark history, and the author doesn't disguise that, but he wisely focuses the grandmother's tale on how, season by season, the students use creativity, imagination, and patience to retain their sense of identity. A beautifully quiet, bold strength arises from the continued refrain "When we were alone" and in how the children insisted on being themselves. Flett's (We Sang You Home, 2016, etc.) gorgeous, skillful illustrations have a flattened, faux naïve feel to them, like construction paper collage, a style that works perfectly with the story. She nicely contrasts the school's dull browns and grays with the riotous colors surrounding Nókom and gets much expression from her simple silhouettes. Spare, poetic, and moving, this Cree heritage story makes a powerful impression. Copyright Kirkus 2016 Kirkus/BPI Communications. All rights reserved. - School Library Journal Reviews : SLJ Reviews 2017 February
K-Gr 3âA young girl learns about family and heritage in this gentle picture book about the legacy of Native American boarding schools. Working in the garden with her grandmother, a pigtailed girl asks why her "Nókom" wears colorful clothing and her hair in a long braid. Her grandmother explains that as a child, she was sent far away from her family to a school where she was forced to wear plain clothing and chop off her hair. "They wanted us to be like everyone else," she explains. But when they were alone, the children would cover themselves in the fall leaves and braid grasses into their hair in order to recapture the identities they left behind. As her grandmother speaks Cree to a passing bird and sits laughing with her brother, she shares how it feels to be forbidden to speak the only language you know and how stolen moments with a sibling can feel like a lifeline to home. "Now, I am always with my family," the grandmother says. Flett's spring palette of warm blues and browns punctuated with splashes of red contrasts the loving moments between grandmother and granddaughter with stark winter whites and grays depicting boarding school life. The repetitive structure creates a predictable narrative; together the illustrations and Robertson's child-centered text make the boarding school experience accessible to a young audience without glossing over its harshness.
Copyright 2017 School Library Journal.
