Buffalo Dreamer by Violet Duncan is a middle grade novel that confronts the painful and traumatic history of the Indigenous residential school system. Duncan, a member of the Plains Cree and Taino from Kehewin Cree Nation, addresses not only the horrors of the past, but also the resilience and strength of Indigenous communities who persevered through this painful history and found ways to maintain both their culture and identity. Sharing this history is very personal to Duncan whose father, grandparents, aunts and uncles were all survivors of the residential school system, Sixties Scoop, and Indian Day Schools. Duncan states that she too is a survivor.
The novel is told through the voice of Summer, a twelve-year-old girl whose father is a member of the San Carlos Apache tribe and mother is Cree First Nations. When Summer and her family travel from Phoenix, Arizona to visit her Cree grandparents and extended family in Northern Alberta Canada, they arrive during an investigation of a mass burial site at the residential school located near her mother’s tribal reservation. During the trip, Summer begins having vivid dreams of a young Cree girl who is trying to escape from a boarding school. Summer’s dreams continue throughout her stay as a window into the past and provide an insider perspective on the abuses encountered by many Indigenous youth within the schools. Summer shares these dreams with her cousin and together they begin to discover more about this history. Summer’s experiences with her cousin on the reservation during her stay act as a counternarrative to the tragic history depicted in her dreams. She realizes the resilience of her tribe’s culture and traditions as she gathers sweetgrass, dances at the Powwow, goes horseback riding and begins to learn the Cree language.
This impactful story illuminates the pain inflicted upon Indigenous families and communities by the residential school system spanning over a century. The story offers many opportunities for critical discussion. It is important to point out that the residential school system is not just part of the tragic history of Canada; residential boarding schools are also an overlooked atrocity of United States history. These schools were designed to erase Indigenous culture and language. Many Indigenous children were forcibly taken from their homes and abused. Some died as a result of this violent abuse and were secretly buried at these schools.
At the end of the novel, Duncan includes a glossary of the Cree language used within the story. She also provides an author’s note that details her family history connected to the residential school system and the ongoing discoveries of the unmarked graves of countless children who never returned to their families and communities. An important step toward reconciliation and change is acknowledging the hard truths of history and the scars that continue to impact Indigenous communities today. As beautifully stated in the novel by Summer’s cousin Autumn, “Every truth uncovered has the power to change lives and restore hope” (p. 62).
Buffalo Dreamer is a 2024 National Book Award finalist.–Recommended by Cynthia Ryman, Cal State Monterey Bay
Title: Buffalo Dreamer
Author: Violet Duncan
ISBN: 9780593624814
PubDate: August 27, 2024
Publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books
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- Themes: Buffalo Dreamer, Cynthia Ryman, Violet Duncan
- Descriptors: WOW Recommends