My Name is Seepeetza

Publisher's description (Groundwood Books, 1992): 
Seepeetza, Tootie, or McSpoot - those were the names Martha Stone was called at home on her ranch. But now that she is living and studying at an indian residential school, her name and everything else about her life have changed. Strict and unhappy nuns, arbitrary and unfair rules and, worst of all, a complete denial of all that being an Indian means to her, govern Martha’s new world. Only vacation times at home feed Martha’s hunger for the true life she had to leave behind. Based on her own experiences, this powerful first novel by Shirley Sterling, a member of the interior Salish National of British Columbia, is a moving account of one of the most blatant expressions of racism in the history of Canada. 

Author biography (Groundwood Books):
Born in Merritt, B.C., Shirley was a member of the Interior Salish Nation of British Columbia. She earned a Bachelor of Education and a doctorate on oral traditions and the transmission of culture. She wrote My Name Is Seepeetza, which is based on her own childhood experiences at an Indian residential school. Acclaimed in both Canada and the United States, the book has won the Sheila A. Egoff Children's Literature Prize. She also won the Laura Steiman Award for Children's Literature

Resource format: Paperback Novel

Age recommendation: Grade 5 - 9 

Keywords: Residential school, family, identity, school, Indigeniety, Salish, Resiliency, history, racisim, British Columbia, true story, author perspective, colonialism, effects of colonialism, cultural identity

Year of publication: 1992

Publisher information: Groundwood Books