Shi-shi-etko

Sylvia Pantaleo is an associate professor of education, specializing in
children’s literature, at the University of Victoria. She is the
co-author of Learning with Literature in the Canadian Elementary
Classroom.

Four mornings remain before Shi-shi-etko must leave her family and
travel to a residential school. She spends her last days at home with
family members who remind her of the ways of her people. Although the
family faces an unbearable loss, they comfort Shi-shi-etko. She listens
attentively to her mother, father, and grandmother and commits to memory
the sights, smells, sounds, tastes, and textures of her world. As
Shi-shi-etko rides in the back of the truck that is transporting her to
the residential school, she looks back at her home and
remembers—everything.

Nicola Campbell is of Interior Salish and Metis ancestry. On the page
opposite the copyright and dedication page, she provides a brief
introduction to the story and to the history of residential schools in
Canada and in other parts of the world. The introduction speaks of the
devastating losses associated with residential schools. Although
Shi-shi-etko and her family are anxious about her leaving and not
returning home until spring, the emotions conveyed in the book seem flat
considering the impending life-altering event. The text is poetic and
the story is gentle. Thus, it would be imperative to read other material
to children about the highly emotional and controversial subject of
residential schools. Recommended with reservations.