Northern Tales

These two slim volumes are both set in the far reaches of North America. They tell of life in the cold, away from cities, set in the past. As the temperatures in the Northern hemisphere heat up for summer, cool off with these books on a humid evening.

Fatty Legs by Margaret-Olemaun Pokiak-Fenton, Christy Jordan-Fenton, and Liz Amini-Holmes (2010)

This is the story of Margaret-Olemaun and the time she spent at a boarding school for Indigenous children. These schools were created to strip Native American children of their identities and assimilate them into a Christian/white world. For many, the experience was traumatic and devastating. Margaret-Olemaun’s story remains a little lighter, which is appropriate for this age group. She is punished for her independent spirit and suffers from being away from her family and their traditions. She also finds a sympathetic adult who helps her tolerate her time at the school.

A Year of Miss Agnes by Kirkpatrick Hill (2000)

Fredericka’s village in Alaska has a small school but has trouble keeping a teacher — the kids are too good at scaring them away. When Miss Agnes is recruited from a nearby village, the children realize that she is a different kind of teacher. She makes learning tangible and accessible. They know she is only there for a year before she returns to her home in England, so they make the most of the time with her. Miss Agnes makes a historical timeline that wraps around the classroom. She convinces the parents of a deaf child that she deserves an education as well. She respects their traditions and families and cultivates that knowledge as part of her lessons.