What a beautiful book that touches on such a tragic topic. Our main character, Summer is traveling with her mother and younger brother to spend the summer with her grandparents on the rez in Canada. Before they reach the reservation, Summer has a dream about a young girl at a residential school and when she wakes up, traffic has been stopped for construction traffic - her mother mentions it was once the site of a residential school that Summer's grandfather was forced to attend when he was a child. Summer continues to have the dreams and discovers the young girl's name is Buffalo Dreamer, but the school changed it to Mary. Mary and her friend Ann wanted to run away, but Ann disappeared and Mary decided to leave the school on her own. The dream sequences are interspersed throughout the novel with Summer spending time with her cousin, Autumn and the rest of her family while they listen to the elders speak amongst themselves about the trauma of their residential school experience. The government did everything to annihilate the indigenous peoples, yet despite everything the communities survived and are thriving and rebuilding community. I cannot stop thinking about this book and I felt it was such a heartfelt age-appropriate exploration of the topic with the overriding theme of hope and endurance. I would love to revisit Summer and her family - this is one of my favorite reads of the year and look forward to reading more of Duncan's work.

This was beautifully written and a great perspective into a multigenerational story about a very sad and little talked about topic (native residential schools) .

Such a wonderfully written historical fiction for middle graders about indigenous life. In this book we explore the life of Summer, of Cree and Apache heritage. While Summer and her mother are visiting family in Canada, Summer begins having visions of another life, the life of another young indigenous girl and her experiences in a residential school. Summer enlists the help of a cousin to find out more about what these residential schools that so many indigenous youth were sent to. This leads to learning about her culture, family, and the cruel and violent experiences so many indigenous people experienced. An absolutely powerful must read!

Oh my gosh I loved this one, the descriptions were so beautiful! I love this, especially because it made me feel so homesick for my grandmas and aunties,

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This beautiful love letter to Indigenous cultures and cultural histories is also a hand extended to readers who wish to help advocate for Indigenous justice. It follows young Summer, a 12-year-old who is Cree and Apache, while she is visiting her extended family in Canada for the summer. During this visit, she begins having dreams of another life, the life of a young girl named Paswâwimostos Opowatam--Buffalo Dreamer--who was forced into residential school. In these dreams, she runs away from said school. These dreams are particularly vivid and Summer begins to wonder why she is having them and who Buffalo Dreamer is. To get to the bottom of that, she and her closest cousin, Autumn, begin investigating.

Sadly, that investigation takes them into the heartbreaking reality and history of residential schools, especially given that, as Summer's family is gathering, one of the former schools nearby is getting attention for the recent discovery of a mass grave. Summer's elders believe she is old enough now to understand what is going on and Summer concludes that her dreams must be connected to this. She and Autumn spend the rest of the book learning about this history and about their family and heritage, and also get to dedicate some time to their cultures' customs and their family's traditions. The story ends with a march for justice, a presentation from those who survived residential schools, and a healing powwow.

This is an excellent book to give children to start that conversation about the cruel history of Indigenous treatment in Canada and the United States, along with providing accurate information about Cree and Apache customs. It is a rallying call for change, for justice, to bring lost children home, to tell their stories, to save Indigenous histories and cultures. Easily this can be added to school curriculum, to supplement biographical narratives and historical accounts. It's a fast book to read, but filled with so much importance!

This was an interesting book about a young Native American girl, Summer, who went up to Alberta, Canada every summer to the reservation to spend time with the whole extended family but this year is different because she's older. Her family will now tell her what her grandpa and other family members had to endure as they were growing up on the reservation because there are bodies being found in unmarked graves on the grounds of the school where so many natives were forced to go. During this time she is also having some very vivid dreams that she can't quite understand. Luckily as she participates in a town rally she will have all of her questions answered and see things from a new perspective.
A pretty easy and clean read for middle school age and older.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance reader copy of Buffalo Dreamer by Violet Duncan.

I got an ARC of this book.

I will admit, I saw the cover and title and wanted to read the book. I had no idea what it was about. The first dream was a bit of shock. I read the description when I realized the MC was someone else suddenly. Thats when everything clicked and I realized I was not ready for this book. I kept reading.

Duncan addresses the mass unmarked graves of Indigenous children that are being found around residential schools. This was the first book I have seen aimed at kids that did not pull punches. Instead, Dunan flat out calls this a genocide and has a character that is beaten to death (off page). So this book is intsense. There is also a scene of a kid escaping, but being chased into a blizzard where she ends up in the snow and unable to continue. This chapter ends here and then the MC has to deal with the fact that she does not know if this kid survived or not. It was a lot. It was necessary, but wow.

None of that is a spoiler. It is more like TW/CW. The twists and turns of the story aren’t exactly shocking, but I will leave the big reveal a secret. It was the most touching twist that could have happened while staying realistic. I was beyond delighted with it.

The rest of the book is about the two tween girls learning about residential schools from their family and elders. They learn more than they knew before, because they pushed to learn. They wanted to know what had happened and why it was such a secret. The secret is from paim and trauma. It is from generational pain and trauma. It all makes so much sense and was a really wonderful book. It really said everything. Talk to your elders, learn their stories. Hold their pain and help them heal by embracing your culture with you whole heart.

I am a white man. I am married to a Chickasaw two spirit person. Their grandma was in a residential school. The more the truth about the schools come out, the more pain my wife holds. I am glad there are books out there to help kids learn their painful histories and learn to heal. I wish there were more. I wish there were more supports. I wish residential schools had never existed. I wish so much. I can’t speak highly enough about this book and others that address residential schooling, so it can’t be forgotten/erased. Yes, I cried while reading this one. It is important for the non-Indigenous kids to learn this history too. Please have your kids read this. Read it with them.

I enjoyed this one but it felt like a Saturday Morning Cartoon that was trying to teach you a history lesson. A lot of the dialogue felt unnatural and the author was very focused on teaching about Cree/Native culture. Which I didn't mind, I learned a lot and enjoyed the plot. It's an important book for any collection.

This is a very gentle book about a very horrible subject, that of the residential school system where so many children were tortured and died, in both the US and Canada.

It might seem odd that such a horrible history could produce this calm, lovely book, about a native girl, Summer, who is visiting her mother’s Cree side of the family (her father is Apache), for the summer.

As soon as she crosses over into Canada, she starts having dreams of a child called Buffalo Dreamer, but who has been renamed Mary by the residential school where she is imprisoned. Summer doesn’t understand what is happening, as she doesn’t have much history about the schools, other than a lot of elders suffered there. Finally, she begins to tell others about these dreams, and they help her find if Buffalo Dreamer survived, or if she died trying to escape.

And while this doesn't sound as though it is sweet, and gentle, it is. The elders are gentle, and explain that dreams have meaning, and believe her.

This is a quick read, and will be a good book to introduce children to the horrors of the residential school, while also saying that people may carry the trama, but can work to get better with the help of the community.

I liked how while all this was going on there was sweet grass braiding, and fishing, and jingle dress dancing. That life went on, and it was healing.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review. This book is coming out on the 27th of August 2024.