Little Shoes
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- $199.00
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- $199.00
Descripción editorial
From the bestselling and Governor General's Award–winning author of On the Trapline comes a beautifully told and comforting picture book about a boy's journey to overcome generational trauma of residential schools.
Deep in the night, when James should be sleeping, he tosses and turns. He thinks about big questions, like why we don't feel dizzy when the Earth spins. He looks at the stars outside his bedroom and thinks about the Night Sky Stories his kōkom has told him. He imagines being a moshom himself. On nights like these, he follows the moonlit path to his mother's bedroom. They talk and they cuddle, and they fall asleep just like that.
One day, James's kōkom takes him on a special walk with a big group of people. It's called a march, and it ends in front of a big pile of things: teddy bears, flowers, tobacco ties and little shoes. Kōkom tells him that this is a memorial in honor of Indigenous children who had gone to residential schools and boarding schools but didn't come home. He learns that his kōkom was taken away to one of these schools with her sister, who also didn't come home.
That night, James can't sleep so he follows the moonlit path to his mother. She explains to James that at residential school when Kōkom felt alone, she had her sister to cuddle, just like they do. And James falls asleep gathered in his mother's arms.
Includes an author note discussing the inspiration for the book.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Cree author Robertson reteams with Ojibwe, Yoeme, and Irish artist McKibbin (The Song That Called Them Home) for this work that honors children who did not return from residential schools. Awake on subsequent nights, Indigenous youth James, worried and wondering, heads to his mother's room by moonlight, where she answers his questions, holds him in her arms, and chats with him about constellations and the universe. An outing with James's kōkom finds the two at a march, where they encounter a display of empty children's shoes meant to memorialize those who did not return. As James learns of kōkom's own time at a residential school, and of her sister who didn't make it home, he imagines the experience, ponders who comforted those children when they were awake late at night, and pictures them consoling one another and following paths of moonlight. Saturated digital color incorporates streams of light against moody blues, oranges, and purples. James and his mother's musing on intergenerational story-sharing further contribute to themes of connection and loss in this emotional work. Background characters are portrayed with various skin tones. An author's note concludes. Ages 3–7.
