It also shows the love of her father, his patience and understanding and the slow thaw of her mother and her anger.

Grimard’s illustrations show the Arctic landscape, the way Margaret doesn’t fit in with her clothing or her ways. This book serves as the other side of the story from When I Was Eight, demonstrating that even when children were returned to their families it was not easy to integrate once again into that society because of the changes wrought by the schooling system. The Fenton family writes all of their books from the heart, clearly creating a case for the damage of the white people and their schools on the lives of Native people and their children. But it takes time to be accepted by her mother and to find her way around her newly reunited family. Slowly, Margaret begins to rebuild her old life and relearn the ways of her family and their traditional life. When her mother sees her for the first time, she exclaims “Not my girl!” and rejects her daughter.

Her hair has been cut short, she has trouble speaking the language of her people, and her skills are more suited to school than life in the Arctic. In this book, Margaret returns home to her native family from the outsiders’ school. The picture book versions follow two highly acclaimed novels for elementary-aged children that tell the same story at a different level. Not My Girl by Christy Jordan-Fenton and Margaret Pokiak-Fenton, illustrated by Gabrielle GrimardĬontinue the story of When I Was Eight with this second picture book by the authors.

Christy jordan fenton