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The secret pocket  Cover Image Book Book

The secret pocket / Peggy Janicki ; illustrated by Carrielynn Victor.

Janicki, Peggy. (Author). Victor, Carrielynn, 1982- (Added Author).

Summary:

The true story of how Indigenous girls at a Canadian residential school sewed secret pockets into their dresses to hide food and survive. Mary was four years old when she was first taken away to the Lejac Indian Residential School. It was far away from her home and family. Always hungry and cold, there was little comfort for young Mary. Speaking Dakelh was forbidden and the nuns and priest were always watching, ready to punish. Mary and the other girls had a genius idea: drawing on the knowledge from their mothers, aunts and grandmothers who were all master sewers, the girls would sew hidden pockets in their clothes to hide food. They secretly gathered materials and sewed at nighttime, then used their pockets to hide apples, carrots and pieces of bread to share with the younger girls. Based on the author's mother's experience at residential school, The Secret Pocket is a story of survival and resilience in the face of genocide and cruelty. But it's also a celebration of quiet resistance to the injustice of residential schools and how the sewing skills passed down through generations of Indigenous women gave these girls a future, stitch by stitch.

Record details

  • ISBN: 9781459833722 (hardcover)
  • Physical Description: 1 volume (unpaged) : color illustrations ; 28 cm
  • Publisher: [Victoria, B.C.] : Orca Book Publishers, 2023.
Subject: Off-reservation boarding schools > British Columbia > History > Juvenile literature.
Carrier Indians > Education > History > Juvenile literature.
Carrier Indians > Social conditions > Juvenile literature.
Dakelh
Indigenous students > Canada > Social conditions > Juvenile literature.
Indigenous peoples > Canada > Residential schools > Juvenile literature.
Genre: Illustrated works.

Available copies

  • 2 of 2 copies available at Tsuga Consortium.

Holds

  • 0 current holds with 2 total copies.
Show Only Available Copies
Location Call Number / Copy Notes Barcode Shelving Location Status Due Date
Cookstown Branch J 371.82997071 Jan 31681030033716 JNONFIC Available -
Lakeshore Branch J 371.82997071 Jan 31681030026967 JNONFIC Available -


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