Little Voice

Mary St. Onge-Davidson is president of the Essential English Centre in
Ottawa.

In the Same Boat is a new series for middle-school readers documenting
that part of the Canadian heritage represented by Japanese, African, or
indigenous peoples of North American descent.

Little Voice is the story of Ray, a young Ojibwa girl growing up in
Northern Ontario. It documents the period of Ray’s life between 1978
and 1982, a difficult and sometimes depressing period for Ray whose
father was killed in a logging accident and whose mother seemingly
doesn’t need her. Ray speaks to us directly about those six years,
carrying us gently through the summers spent with her grandmother who
taught her about the “old ways.” In fact this book is dedicated to
all grandmothers.

Ray’s story is a voyage of discovery as she learns about herself and
about others through her heritage and at school. Slipperjack’s smooth,
flowing writing style makes for an easy enough read, but readers should
not be fooled into believing this is a simplistic story. Racette’s
simple black-and-white illustrations appear just in the right places
throughout the story giving pause to the reader. Highly recommended.