Book Talk Reflection



7 Generations: A Plains Cree Saga is a graphic novel written in 2010 by David Alexander Robertson. This novel is based off a family, whose family story goes back to the early 1800s. From the graphic novel, we learn a lot about what the importance of family & relationships, storytelling, reconciliation, and forgiveness. The graphic novel also talks about the intergenerational affects that many people still with from residential schools. Residential schools are where man students have come in contact with physical and mental abuse; ultimately leading to future substance, physical, and mental abuse.
                I came to choose this story because I was able to read one part of the story in another class that I had taken earlier in the year, and when I saw that this was the continuation of that story, I wanted to know the rest of the story. Now that I have read the whole story, cover to cover, I would recommend that this story be presented to any grade between grades 7 to 12. This story does give a lot of really graphic images regarding residential school abuse and also deals with a lot of different substance abuses. I would chose grades 7 to 12 to cover this book because it will show the students how these different types of trauma can affect the mind of a student forever. With students being at the age where they are starting to full understand these types of trauma, they might be able to find the importance of knowing the different types of history of these types of substance abuses. At this age is where students might also start thinking about solutions on how to fix certain types of issues that lead to these different types of substance abuses.
                Being that there are a lot of issues of substance (such as alcohol and drug) abuse in different Indigenous communities throughout North America, students will be able to think critically about how these different types of issues can lead to prejudice stereotypical thoughts towards Indigenous people from people of different ethnicities. With students being at such a young age, they will be able to see how they can help people look beyond these prejudice views, and hopefully will be able to see what the main causes of these issues may be. For example, in the graphic novel we see different types of substance abuses, and we do not see what the main cause is until the last part of the graphic novel. We learn that the James, the father, was a residential school survivor who saw different types of abuses in the residential schools (that we will not see in the school systems today, hopefully). James could not let go of those memories, and this caused him to turn to a substance abuse. He turned to this because he thought it could help him forget, but it did not at all. By having students be able to look beyond the different types of substance abuses, and look beyond the stereotypical views, hopefully we can have students think about how we can make a well thought out transition from prejudice views, to an understandable view.
                A graphic novel like this one might intrigue the mind of a student who is affected by the residential school intergenerational trauma, and could hopefully help them understand why their family is the way they are. Hopefully a story like this can help bring closure between a student and a family member who might have a certain issue to deal with as well.

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