Lucy and Lola: The Journey Forward, a Novella on Reconciliation
by Monique Gray Smith & Julie Flett
Description:
Publisher description (McKellar and Martin, 2018):
Lucy and Lola are 11-year-old twins who are heading to Gabriola Island, BC, to spend the summer with their Kookum (grandmother) while their mother studies for the bar exam. During their time with Kookum, the girls begin to learn about her experiences in being sent — and having to send their mother — to Residential school. Ultimately, they discover what it means to be intergenerational survivors.
Award-winning illustrator Julie Flett created the amazing cover illustration and interior spot art that perfectly suit this engaging novella.
Lucy & Lola has been selected as a 2020 MYRCA Sundogs Nominee, was a finalist for the 2019 BC & Yukon Book Prizes Sheila A. Egoff Children’s Literature Prize, was a 2018 CODE Burt Award Honour Book for First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Young Adult Literature, and was selected as an American Indians In Children’s Literature (AICL) Best Book of 2018!
Author descriptions (McKellar and Martin, 2018):
Monique Gray Smith is of Cree, Lakota, and Scottish descent and is the proud mom of twins. She is an award-winning author, international speaker, and sought-after consultant. Her first published novel, Tilly: A Story of Hope and Resilience, won the 2014 Burt Award for First Nation, Métis, and Inuit Literature. Her other titles include My Heart Fills with Happiness, winner of the 2017 Christie Harris BC Book Award for Children’s Literature, Speaking our Truth: A Journey of Reconciliation, and You Hold Me Up. Monique is well known for her storytelling, spirit of generosity, and focus on resilience.
Julie Flett is an award-winning Cree-Metis author, illustrator, and artist. She has received many awards including the 2016 American Indian Library Association Award for Best Picture Book for Little You by Richard Van Camp (Orca Books), and the 2015 Canadian Christie Harris Illustrated Children’s Literature Award for Dolphin SOS, by Roy Miki (Tradewind Books), and My Heart Fills with Happiness, by Monique Gray Smith (Orca Books). Her own Wild Berries (Simply Read Books) was featured in The New York Times and included among Kirkus’s Best Children’s Books of 2013. Wild Berries was also chosen as Canada’s First Nation Communities Read title selection for 2014–2015.
Resource format: Novella
Age recommendation: Grades 4 - 9
Keywords: Gabriola Island, Kookum, grandmother, storytelling, Residential School, identity, culture, kinship, reconciliation, intergenerational survivors, language, Cree, learning, oral storytelling, smudge, traditions, culture, land-based learning, healing, resilience, ceremony, medicine, Round Lake, water, connection, land, British Columbia, "The Witness Blanket"
Year of publication: 2018
Publisher information: McKellar and Martin
Teaching and Learning Ideas
Our team collaborated with new teachers, alumni of the Werklund School of Education’s Bachelor of Education program, to create teaching and learning plans for texts in this website. With audiences ranging from Pre-Kindergarten to Post-Secondary, lesson plans across this resource address a wide range of school subject areas, inclusive approaches, and Indigenous education topics, such as the revitalization of Indigenous languages. As this website was designed with Undergraduate Programs in Education instructors, as well as teachers in mind, connections to UPE courses have been flagged on each lesson plan. These lessons are intended as a starting place for educators, to help you envision ways in which you might bring Indigenous literatures, as well as ways of knowing, being, and doing, into your teaching contexts. Please adapt, use, and share these lessons in ways that are generative for your teaching practice. We offer our sincere thanks to the dozens of new teachers who gifted us with these creative ideas!
Lucy and Lola / When we Play Our Drums, They Sing Novel Study - grades 4-6