Children's Fiction Native Canadian
Little Shoes
- Publisher
- Tundra
- Initial publish date
- Jul 2025
- Category
- Native Canadian, Bedtime & Dreams, Death & Dying
- Recommended Age
- 3 to 7
- Recommended Grade
- p to 2
-
Hardback
- ISBN
- 9781774881729
- Publish Date
- Jul 2025
- List Price
- $24.99
Classroom Resources
Where to buy it
Description
From the bestselling and Governor General's Award–winning author of On the Trapline comes a beautifully told and comforting picture book about a boy's journey to overcome generational trauma of residential schools.
Deep in the night, when James should be sleeping, he tosses and turns. He thinks about big questions, like why we don't feel dizzy when the Earth spins. He looks at the stars outside his bedroom and thinks about the Night Sky Stories his kōkom has told him. He imagines being a moshom himself. On nights like these, he follows the moonlit path to his mother's bedroom. They talk and they cuddle, and they fall asleep just like that.
One day, James's kōkom takes him on a special walk with a big group of people. It's called a march, and it ends in front of a big pile of things: teddy bears, flowers, tobacco ties and little shoes. Kōkom tells him that this is a memorial in honor of Indigenous children who had gone to residential schools and boarding schools but didn't come home. He learns that his kōkom was taken away to one of these schools with her sister, who also didn't come home.
That night, James can't sleep so he follows the moonlit path to his mother. She explains to James that at residential school when Kōkom felt alone, she had her sister to cuddle, just like they do. And James falls asleep gathered in his mother's arms.
Includes an author note discussing the inspiration for the book.
About the authors
DAVID A. ROBERTSON is the winner of the Beatrice Mosionier Aboriginal Writer of the Year Award, the John Hirsch Award for Most Promising Manitoba Writer and the TWUC Freedom to Read Award. His books include The Barren Grounds: The Misewa Saga; When We Were Alone (winner of the Governor General’s Award, a finalist for the TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award and a McNally Robinson Best Book for Young People); Will I See? (winner of the Manuela Dias Book Design and Illustration Award, graphic novel category); and the YA novel Strangers (recipient of the Michael Van Rooy Award for Genre Fiction). He is the creator and host of the podcast Kiwew. Through his writings about Canada’s Indigenous peoples, Robertson educates as well as entertains, reflecting Indigenous cultures, histories and communities while illuminating many contemporary issues. David A. Robertson is a member of Norway House Cree Nation. He lives in Winnipeg.
David A. Robertson's profile page
Maya McKibbin is a Two-Spirited Ojibwe, Yoeme, and Irish filmmaker, illustrator, and storyteller. Using her education in computer graphics and interactive media, her work is rooted in the natural world and our relations to it.
Other titles by
God Flare
The Sleeping Giant
The Misewa Saga, Book Five
The Portal Keeper
The Misewa Saga, Book Four
The Kodiaks
Home Ice Advantage
The Stone Child
The Misewa Saga, Book Three
The Song That Called Them Home
Version Control
The Great Bear
The Misewa Saga, Book Two
Sugar Falls
A Residential School Story
