When we were alone by david r robertson

Today’s featured book is When We Were Alone, written by David A. Robertson and illustrated by Julie Flett.

This tender board book explores the history of residential schooling that was inflicted upon Indigenous and First Nations people. A young girl helps her grandmother in the garden and asks questions about things her grandmother does, such as wearing bright colors, having long hair, and speaking in Cree. The narrator’s grandmother tells of the times in her childhood that she was forced to live in a residential school, and had her autonomy, culture, and language taken away. It is a story of a young girl subverting authority with an emphasis on explanation and healing; a grandmother living her truth despite those that tried to steal her culture demanding submission from the Indigenous children they took from their families under the guise of education.