Stolen Words

The story of the beautiful relationship between a little girl and her grandfather. When she asks her grandfather how to say something in his language — Cree — he admits that his language was stolen from him when he was a boy. The little girl then sets out to help her grandfather find his language again. This sensitive and warmly illustrated picture book explores the intergenerational impact of the residential school system that separated young Indigenous children from their families. The story recognizes the pain of those whose culture and language were taken from them, how that pain is passed down and how healing can also be shared. (From Second Story Press)

Melanie Florence is a writer of Cree and Scottish heritage based in Toronto. She is also the author of Missing Nimama, which won the 2016 TD Canadian Children's Literature Award and the 2017 Forest of Reading Golden Oak Award.

Gabrielle Grimard has illustrated over 30 picture books, including When I Was Eight and Not My Girl. She lives in Quebec.

• 48 books by Indigenous writers to read to understand residential schools
• How Melanie Florence turned the stories of missing and murdered Indigenous women into a children's book

More about Melanie Florence

The Next Chapter10:22Melanie Florence on "Missing Nimama"

Melanie Florence on her children's book based on missing and murdered indigenous women.

Other books by Melanie Florence