In these eleven original stories, characters bravely face the challenges of settling into a new life.In this wonderful new short story anthology, eleven of Canada's top children's authors contribute stories of immigration, displacement and change, exploring the frustration and uncertainty those changes can bring. Told in first-person narratives, this collection features a diverse cast of boys and girls, each one living at a different point in Canada's vast landscape and history.With unforgettable protagonists — such as Miriam, a Warsaw-ghetto survivor, now reunited with her family in Montreal; Wong Joe-on, a young Chinese immigrant who faces racism in a small Saskatchewan town; and Insy, an Ojibwe girl who makes her first trip to a "white" town in Northern Ontario — young readers will be moved by the opportunities and difficulties that these characters face, as each one ponders what it means to be Canadian, and struggles to fit in.Hoping for Home includes stories by Jean Little, Kit Pearson, Brian Dowle, Paul Yee, Irene N. Watts, Ruby Slipperjack, Afua Cooper, Rukhsana Khan, Marie—Andrée Clermont, Lillian Boraks—Nemetz and Shelley Tanaka.

See below for English description.Violette Pesheens a de la difficulté à s'adapter à sa nouvelle vie au pensionnat. Sa grand-mère lui manque et de sérieux affrontements éclatent entre des filles cries. De plus, tout le monde la dévisage dans cette école de blancs, et tout ce qu'elle a apporté lui a été confisqué, y compris son nom : elle n'est plus qu'un numéro.Mais le pire c'est la peur qui la tient. La peur d'oublier tout ce qu'elle a toujours chéri; l'anishnabe, sa langue, le nom des personnes qu'elle connaissait et ses coutumes. Bref, la peur d'oublier qui elle est. Son journal est le seul endroit où elle peut exprimer ses véritables inquiétudes, ses déchirements et se souvenir du passé. Peut-être qu'écrire lui permettra de finalement voir la lumière au bout de ce tunnel infernal.Basée sur son expérience dans un pensionnat, Ruby Slipperjack a créé une héroïne brave et touchante, Violette. Les jeunes lecteurs feront une incursion importante dans ce sombre chapitre de l'histoire de notre nation.Violette Pesheen is struggling to adjust to her new life at Residential School. She misses her Grandma; she has run-ins with Cree girls; at her "white" school, everyone just stares; and everything she brought has been taken from her, including her name-she is now just a number. But worst of all, she has a fear. A fear of forgetting the things she treasures most: her Anishnabe language; the names of those she knew before; and her traditional customs. A fear of forgetting who she was.Her notebook is the one place she can record all of her worries, and heartbreaks, and memories. And maybe, just maybe there will be hope at the end of the tunnel.Drawing from her own experiences at Residential School, Ruby Slipperjack creates a brave, yet heartbreaking heroine in Violette, and lets young readers glimpse into an all-too important chapter in our nation's history.Original title: Dear Canada: These Are My Words

Acclaimed author Ruby Slipperjack delivers a haunting novel about a 12-year-old girl’s experience at a residential school in 1966.Violet Pesheens is struggling to adjust to her new life at residential school. She misses her Grandma; she has run-ins with Cree girls; at her “white” school, everyone just stares; and everything she brought has been taken from her, including her name—she is now just a number. But worst of all, she has a fear. A fear of forgetting the things she treasures most: her Anishnabe language; the names of those she knew before; and her traditional customs. A fear of forgetting who she was.Her notebook is the one place she can record all of her worries, and heartbreaks, and memories. And maybe, just maybe there will be hope at the end of the tunnel.Drawing from her own experiences at residential school, Ruby Slipperjack creates a brave, yet heartbreaking heroine in Violet, and lets young readers glimpse into an all-too important chapter in our nation’s history.

Featuring stories from nine outstanding Canadian authors, this anthology is the perfect Christmas gift for Dear Canada readers, both old and new!A Time for Giving includes ten tales of Christmas, following the most recent Dear Canada diarists "the Christmas after" their diary ends. Johanna Leary is reunited with her brother after they were separated at Grosse-Île; Mary Kobayashi spends a second Christmas at a Japanese internment camp; Rose Rabinowitz finds some surprising challenges in her new country, and many more!A Special Gift is a story from Ojibwe writer Ruby Slipperjack to preview her upcoming Dear Canada (coming in Fall 2016!), set the winter before the diarist is sent to Residential School.Contributors include Jean Little (Exiles from the War and All Fall Down), Barbara Haworth- Attard (To Stand on My Own), Sarah Ellis (That Fatal Night), Susan Aihoshi (Torn Apart), Norah McClintock (A Sea of Sorrows), Karleen Bradford (A Country of Our Own), Janet McNaughton (Flame and Ashes), Carol Matas (Pieces of the Past), and Ruby Slipperjack.

Abby is having trouble fitting in at Bear Creek Reserve. After having lived most of her life with her grandparents in town, it's definitely a transition moving back to the reserve. When Choom, her grandfather, falls ill, Abby must leave her best friends at school, her supportive grandparents, and her perfect pink bedroom, and adjust to living with her mom. But it's not only being back with Mom that is hard - there's a new father, John, a pesky half-brother, Blink, a schoolroom full of kids who don't know her (and don't seem to want to, either), not to mention a completely different way of life that seems so traditional, so puzzling and complicated.