One good book away from becoming a reader: First Nations literature in a northern classroom

Abstract

I arrived in the isolated, northern community of Big River, Northwest Territories on August 17, 1987. I wanted my students to discover the rich world that waited for them in books. It is a curious paradox that one loses oneself in a text, only to find oneself. I wanted my students to find ideas and images for themselves, to extend and challenge their thinking and feeling, and I also hoped that books might provide some comfort on the journey that was negotiating their identities in school.

Keywords

• literacy
• first nations literature
• identity