Little shoes

Cree author Robertson reteams with Ojibwe, Yoeme, and Irish artist McKibbin (The Song That Called Them Home) for this work that honors children who did not return from residential schools. Awake on subsequent nights, Indigenous youth James, worried and wondering, heads to his mother's room by moonlight, where she answers his questions, holds him in her arms, and chats with him about constellations and the universe. An outing with James's kōkom finds the two at a march, where they encounter a display of empty children's shoes meant to memorialize those who did not return. As James learns of kōkom's own time at a residential school, and of her sister who didn't make it home, he imagines the experience, ponders who comforted those children when they were awake late at night, and pictures them consoling one another and following paths of moonlight. Saturated digital color incorporates streams of light against moody blues, oranges, and purples. James and his mother's musing on intergenerational story-sharing further contribute to themes of connection and loss in this emotional work. Background characters are portrayed with various skin tones. An author's note concludes. Ages 3--7. (July)

An Indigenous child confronts the legacy of boarding schools with the support of his mother and grandmother. James' head is so full of questions, on everything from gravity to the constellations, that he can't sleep, but each night his loving mother soothes him, and the two fall asleep snuggled up together. He's also bolstered by thoughts of his Kōkom's (Grandmother's) ancestral wisdom; proud of his rich heritage, James is eager to pass down her stories to his own grandchildren. One evening, he and Kōkom attend a demonstration honoring the Native children forced to attend abusive state-sponsored boarding schools; James learns that his grandmother went to one of these institutions, as did her sister. Gazing at dozens of pairs of little shoes--memorials for those who, like Kōkom's sister, didn't survive--he's reminded that children like him faced danger and even death. That night, he comes to his mother with a truly difficult question: Who comforted Kōkom and her sister when they were frightened in the night? Robertson (Norway House Cree Nation) sensitively approaches this history, never explicitly describing the horrors of residential schools but instead leaving space for adults to grapple with youngsters' questions in their own ways. Though he doesn't provide easy answers, it's clear that familial love keeps this child buoyed. Suffused with pinks, icy blues, and deep indigos, the glowing, cartoon-style digital illustrations from McKibbin (Ojibwe) depict the ancestral bonds that keep James rooted. Honest yet age-appropriate and deeply uplifting. (author's note, photograph)(Picture book. 6-11) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.