Book Review: Buffalo Dreamer by Violet Duncan

Publisher’s description

An illuminating novel about the importance of reclaiming the past, based on the author’s family history

Summer and her family always spend relaxed summers in Alberta, Canada, on the reservation where her mom’s family lives. But this year is turning out to be an eye-opening one. First, Summer has begun to have vivid dreams in which she’s running away from one of the many real-life residential schools that tore Native children from their families and tried to erase their Native identities. Not long after that, she learns that unmarked children’s graves have been discovered at the school her grandpa attended as a child. Now more folks are speaking up about their harrowing experiences at these places, including her grandfather. Summer cherishes her heritage and is heartbroken about all her grandfather was forced to give up and miss out on. When the town holds a rally, she’s proud to take part to acknowledge the painful past and speak of her hopes for the future, and anxious to find someone who can fill her in on the source of her unsettling dreams.

Amanda’s thoughts

This book is 99 pages long. I tell you that because THAT IS GREAT. We need more short books. We really, really do. At my school, the doorstopper books rarely move off the shelf unless they’re checked out by the most avid of readers (or, as the kids will tell me, they wanted to check out the biggest book in the library and have no intention of reading it). We have talked about this over and over here on the blog: kids are used to Wimpy Kid and graphic novels and need these shorter novel options to help them keep reading and branching out. And look, I’m not saying that NO kids are reading long book or that ALL kids need illustrations or want only short books. But, like all parts of life, variety and options are only ever good things. If what we care about is creating and keeping readers, then being able to present a huge range of books to see what book best matches what reader is the key to everything. And, as my own kid, now 18, recently said to my mom, during what he felt was an interminable artistic swimming routine in the Olympics—a routine she pointed out was under 3.5 minutes, “Do you know what generation I’m from? My attention span is NOT that long.”

So. Short: good. And a book like this, a really substantive story that’s well-crafted and very meaningful? It’s a real treat. Often my complaint is that shorter books sometimes lack development or real oomph. You really have to know what you’re doing to write a good story that tightly. And Duncan wrote a great story.

Summer is looking forward to spending her summer break with her family on the Cree reservation in Alberta. She always has a great time with her large family, including her cousin, Autumn. As the two girls start to overhear their families talking about a recent discovery of some graves at a nearby residential school, Summer starts to dig deeper into her family’s history and experiences. She also begins having extremely vivid dreams about a young girl who has fled the residential school. She begins to broach the subject of residential schools with her family members, learning of the horrors that they went through there. She’s certain her dreams mean something—they’re not just creative fictions of her sleeping brain, but surely stories about a real-life person, maybe one who is still alive.

All of this is mixed in with the just day-to-day life of summer with family. And how it all comes together at the end is just lovely. The author includes a glossary and a personal note at the end. A powerful story that likely will provide many readers with their first look at residential schools. A good book to add to all collections.

Review copy courtesy of the publisher

ISBN-13: 9780593624814
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date: 08/27/2024
Age Range: 10 – 12 Years

Filed under: Book Reviews