Archives for July 2021

By 1926 more than 80% of Indigenous children were forced into boarding schools. In Red Dove, Listen to the Wind and Red Dove, Tell Truth to Darkness, I tried to describe the experience from a child’s perspective, but sometimes photographs tell it better (see below).

www.soniaantaki @soniaantaki @reddovebook @redd0ve @andrewbosley @redchairpress #residential schools #indigenousschools #middlegradebooks #nativeamericanbooks #nativeamericanboardingschools

In Red Dove, Listen to the Wind, and Red Dove, Tell Truth to Darkness, the title character transcends the harsh realities of Native American boarding school life. Those books are fiction of course, a way to introduce young people to a long-neglected piece of history.

You can read more about what life was like–from the New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/19/us/us-canada-indigenous-boarding-residential-schools.html?referringSource=articleShare  www.soniaantaki @soniaantaki @reddovebook @redd0ve @andrewbosley @redchairpress #residential schools #indigenousschools #middlegradebooks #nativeamericanbooks #nativeamericanboardingschools

Zitkala Sa, or Red Bird, wrote about the trauma of the Native American boarding school experience. She was the model for my fictional character of Red Dove. For more on what that experience was really like here’s an article from National Geographic:

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/a-century-of-trauma-at-boarding-schools-for-native-american-children-in-the-united-states

www.soniaantaki @soniaantaki @reddovebook @redd0ve @andrewbosley @redchairpress #residential schools #indigenousschools #middlegradebooks #nativeamericanbooks #nativeamericanboardingschools #zitkalasa #zintkalasha #redbird

The past treatment of Native children in Canadian residential schools is in the news right now, but Native American children in the US were forced there as well, under harsh and often brutal conditions. In Red Dove, Listen to the Wind and the upcoming Red Dove, Tell Truth to Darkness, the fictional heroine looks for a way to transcend the experience. From Red Dove, Listen to the Wind (illustrations by Andrew Bosley). www.soniaantaki @soniaantaki @reddovebook @redd0ve @andrewbosley @redchairpress #residential schools #indigenousschools #middlegradebooks #nativeamericanbooks #nativeamericanboardingschools