Welcome to Litsy!

I decided to squeeze in 1 more book for #foodandlit this month. This novella is based on the true story of Chanie Wenjack, a Native American boy who was taken from his family to one of Ontario‘s residential schools in the 1960s. The story alternates chapters between Chanie, who runs away from school with 2 friends, & various animals who watch over Chanie on his journey in the freezing winter. A heartbreaking story that will stick with you. 5⭐️

#BookedinTime @Cuilin
Wenjack is a heartbreaking story of an Ojibwe boy who escapes the residential school he has been forced to attend due to the government's push to culturally assimilate the indigenous people into the white man's world at the expense of losing his own heritage. I read this novella in less than an hour, but I will remember the experience for a long time. ⬇️

#BookedinTime
@Cuilin

I hope this will work for October. 😍

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I read this August 17 and gave it 3 ⭐️ on Good Reads. It‘s a valuable and important read but I felt that Boyden‘s characterization on Chanie was missing something.

Book 46: I have complicated feelings about Boyden due to the controversy surrounding his claims to be Indigenous, but his writing is superb.

Joseph Boyden's Wenjack is a masterpiece, a concise, spare, and poetic story of Chanie, a nine-year-old Ojibwe boy who was taken from his home and placed in an Indian school designed to assimilate him into the Canadian culture. His escape with two other boys moves through his perspective and the views of the animals who accompany him on his journey in a beautiful, heartbreaking account.⠀

This tiny novella is incredibly powerful. It tells the true story of Chanie Wenjack, a 12-year-old Ojibwe boy who ran away from a residential school in northern Ontario. Four days later, he was dead. As stated in the author‘s note: “The death of these countless innocents remains one of the deepest, most brutal stains on Canada‘s history.” This is a must read for all Canadians.

Filled with aboriginal archetypes and other symbols of our country, this short but powerful story helped bring the true story of Chanie Wenjak and aspects of the social impact of residential schools back into the forefront of Canadian culture. I found it heart-wrenching and touching.

My first year participating in the BookTube-A-Thon 2017, my progress was hampered by mental health issues and just plain-old life issues. But it did manage to get at least two books read and they were both excellent! #BTAT17

Boyden's novella brings a poetic beauty to this unforgivable tragedy. Its a heartbreaking story based on a real child, who really did die trying to escape from one of Canada's Residential Schools. Powerfully written, Wenjack touches on a history I want to explore in more depth and it was a great place to wade in. Read during the #BTAT17

'From the 1870s until 1996, when the last school closed its doors, more than 150,000 Indigenous children over seven generations were removed from their families in an attempted cultural genocide.'

#BTAT17

So tired 😪 finally finished The Force around 1am and now I have to get up for work aaarrrggghhhh 😭😭

At least my book today is a little one. Doing the #BTAT17 challenge to read a book in one day!

Coming in at just over 100 pages, this was a quick read. It is also a very emotional read. I just finished it moments ago, but I know it'll be on my mind for quite some time. Wonderful book.

#wenjack #josephboyden #aboriginal #canada

Heartbreaking and beautiful.

The moment I realized that the last residential school didn't close until I was 4 years old will stay with me forever.

Couldn't recommend this book enough!

This was a quick little read. I did enjoy the story and I do agree that it is important to read. I've lived in Canada most of my life and I had no idea about these schools. Very educational and thought-provoking. #litsyatoz

First new book of April #libraryhaul #litsyatoz

Curled up with the cuddly part of the Terror Squad and read this short but powerful book from start to finish. Canada has its own brutal history to reconcile, and this sad but true story is just a small fraction of it.

This was a beautiful and heartbreaking novella about a young Ojibwe boy who runs away from his residential school in Northern Ontario. This is such an important issue in Canadian history and I highly recommend this story. Joseph Boyden is amazing.

It doesn't happen often that all four of the monthly book clubs I attend happen to meet within a week of each other. First up: YA meeting tonight. We usually do two books but we've got three this time because two are very short.

This tiny book ripped my heart out. I received this from my secret santa so thank you @Gleefulreader. I have never read anything about Canadian history but now I feel like I need to learn more. Absolutely everybody should read this book, but be prepared, it is a heartbreaker. #24in48 #readathon

On a lighter note, the book design nerd side of me loved this note about the typeface. I looked up the Inuktitut version out of curiosity and it is beautiful https://www.rosettatype.com/Huronia#inuktitut

The author's note at the end is at least as important as the text itself. I am not sure if the truth has all been uncovered yet (though I haven't read the Truth and Reconciliation publications yet - they are on my to read list and I'm glad my library has them in ebooks), but I definitely agree that reconciliation will be much harder.

Bought this for my sister for Xmas largely due to the profits going to The Healing of the Seven Generations (local group working with residential schools survivors). Giving back to the community, yet another reason why I love independent bookstores. And yes, I did actually give it to my sister - she read it already and lent it back to me to read.

residential schools are one part of Canada's history that are not talked about enough & I found this little book to be a powerful story of a boy who attempts to run away & I also enjoyed the illustrations throughout.

however, Joseph Boyden is not without controversy himself (the issue in the fall over his open letter to UBC + the current issue of his identity & what he claims to be) so
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Read this at the end of December and despite my long-held misgivings about Joseph Boyden, I loved it. It's an important story that needed a frank retelling. I love the weaving of two languages and the imagery involved. What Boyden does particularly well here is replicate the cadence and syntax of an Anishinabe person speaking English, because our languages and ways of speaking are vastly different to English. #readjanuary #titlewithapropername

A very tiny book (about 100 pgs.), but beautifully written about an Ojibwa boy who runs away and starts communicating with the spirits of the forest. I shipped this from Amazon.ca since it was cheaper than importing it through Amazon US. Well worth your time- poetic, great sentences, and reflective. Boyden's heritage has come under question recently, but he is still considered a great Native author.

And finally, this is the last book I bought in Canada – at the Vancouver airport. Boyden's most recent published work of fiction, a novella about an indigenous boy in the residential school system.

I was drawn to this book by the little animals on the cover. Let me tell you it didn't disappoint. It's a powerful tale about a boy who runs away from a residential school for First Nations children. It's only at the end that you find out that Chanie Wenjack was real and was one of thousands who died after being forced from their families. this book only took about an hour to read but it will one of those books I can't stop thinking about.

Canadian book haul! Went to look for Wenjack not realizing it was higher in the US. It might take a month, but got these cheaper than US prices. These were CBC best book finalists.

Terrific and deeply moving. Very short and spare tale of an Ojibwe boy who runs away from a Canadian residential school. As a non-Canadian, I didn't know that this was based on a true story. Recommended.

In this small-format #bookwithpictures is the story of an Ojibwe boy who runs away from residential school. #IndigenousVoices #NativeBooks

In tears over this gorgeous little heartbreaker of a book even though I know the ending before I ever even heard of this book. Joseph Boyden has written such a tender, beautiful, haunting book about Chanie Wenjack, the young Ojibwe boy who ran away from residential school and died trying to walk home. I can't recommend this enough! Kent Monkman's illustrations are perfect! #Nativereads #decolonize

Joseph Boyden and Kent Monkman, two highly talented Native artists, team up for this little powerhouse of a book about Chanie Wenjack, the Ojibwe boy who escaped from a Residential school and died trying to walk home. One terribly tragic story in the long and ongoing history of colonialism and genocide. #Nativebooks #decolonize #noDAPL

This was (😩) my first Joseph Boyden. As a Canadian, I feel shame about this. But it was so good. This tiny book tells the story of Chanie who runs away from a residential school and tries to make his way home through the Canadian wilderness. It's a topic that's deeply shameful for many Canadians and is so hard to read about, but is entirely necessary. A portion of the sales are also donated to a camp for First Nations Youth, so I'll be buying.

A collection of the many one-word titles that I've read over the last while, for #day19 of #photoadaynov16. Some real highlights in here!

Heartbreaking. Important but heartbreaking.

Oh, Chanie. This is heartbreaking.

Wenjack is the most important book that I've read in 2016. As a Canadian, I've heard about the horrors of Residential Schools, but they weren't in the school curriculum and always felt distant. From physical, emotional, & sexual abuse to eugenics, Canada's history is wrought with pain. Boyden takes us on a beautiful journey as he tells us the true story of Chanie, a young boy who ran away from a Residential School only to die on his journey home.

My October reading stats are all about reading off my shelf. Not a single library book, net galley or e-book. This also does not reflect the 6 books I started and are now 50% or more completed. Hopefully several of those will get knocked off in the first week of November!

#NovemberTBR #photoadaynov16 I don't plan my reading by month but here are the next few I'm thinking of reading! @RealLifeReading

I decide to read this little book this afternoon. It may be little, but it is an important story and so tragic. What a completely heart breaking story. The fact the Chanie Wenjack was a real child and that he suffered so much at the hands of white men and died trying to get home is unforgivable. Joseph Boyden's storytelling is powerful, poetic and heart wrenching.
I cried many tears...

This. 😞 #Wenjack #JosephBoyden #MustRead #ResidentialSchool #blackspot #CanadianLiterature #CanLit #CanadianHistory #NotProud #ChanieWenjack #bookstagram #book #Aboriginal #Native

Important read giving a fictional account of Chanie "Charlie" Wenjack's escape from residential school in the 1960's in Northern Ontario.

#complimentary books on Chanie #wenjack You also get to listen to the music and can watch the film on CBC this weekend.

The last few years in Canada have seen the recognition and movement towards reconciliation for our terrible history of the system of residential schools that tore apart indigenous families for most of the 20th century. This novella imagines the true story of the flight, and death, of Chanie Wenjack from his school as told by the Manitous (animal spirits) that follow him on his journey. A heartbreaking and powerful book. Required reading.

#October 21 - book & favourite #fall treat - is have to say my favourite thing about fall is the #hotdrinks. #pumpkin flavoured, #chai flavoured, #applespice flavoured. All of it plus I had to share these two #newbooks that I bought last night. I've been waiting for them! #SecretPath by #GordDownie & #JeffLemire and #Wenjack by #JosephBoyden. Please look up the #stories. #hauntedbooktober #bookchallenge #LitsyFeature #books #bookstagram

"When the little they can collect is collected, they roll the body in a sheet and begin the trouble of carrying it out. And when it's convenient, which turns out to be weeks later, their notification to the deceased's family will be the return of said deceased in a thin casket, remains enclosed, back to his people and to his home." Why did it take thirty more years to close the residential schools?

Getting ready to go down a very sad path by reading this. 50th anniversary of Chanie Wenjack's death is this Saturday October 22. Heartbreaking. "We are not the country we thought we were." Gord Downie.