Les bas du pensionnat

See below for English description.

Margaret supplie son père de la laisser aller à l'école des étrangers. Il finit par accepter. Mais avant, il met sa fille en garde : comme l'eau façonne la pierre, les étrangers vont façonner son esprit et le rendront étroit.

Au pensionnat, Margaret ne tarde pas à faire la connaissance du Corbeau, une religieuse au nez crochu et aux doigts longs et osseux comme des serres. Bien vite, le Corbeau se heurte à la fillette au tempérament fort. Pour lui montrer à quel point elle lui déplaît, le Corbeau distribue des bas gris à toutes les filles... sauf à Margaret qui en reçoit des rouge vif. La fillette devient aussitôt la risée de toute l'école.

The moving memoir of an Inuit girl who emerges from a residential school with her spirit intact.

Eight-year-old Margaret Pokiak has set her sights on learning to read, even though it means leaving her village in the high Arctic. Faced with unceasing pressure, her father finally agrees to let her make the five-day journey to attend school, but he warns Margaret of the terrors of residential schools.

At school Margaret soon encounters the Raven, a black-cloaked nun with a hooked nose and bony fingers that resemble claws. She immediately dislikes the strong-willed young Margaret. Intending to humiliate her, the heartless Raven gives gray stockings to all the girls -- all except Margaret, who gets red ones. In an instant Margaret is the laughingstock of the entire school.

In the face of such cruelty, Margaret refuses to be intimidated and bravely gets rid of the stockings. Although a sympathetic nun stands up for Margaret, in the end it is this brave young girl who gives the Raven a lesson in the power of human dignity.

Complemented by archival photos from Margaret Pokiak-Fenton's collection and striking artwork from Liz Amini-Holmes, this inspiring first-person account of a plucky girl's determination to confront her tormentor will linger with young readers.

Original title: Fatty Legs: A True Story

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