As Long as the Rivers Flow

by Larry Loyie, Constance Brissenden, Heather D. Holmlund (Illustrator)

Overview

Winner of the Norma Fleck Award for Canadian Children’s Non-Fiction

From the mid-1800s to the late 1990s, the education of Indigenous children was taken on by various churches in government-sponsored residential schools. More than 150,000 children were forcibly taken from their families in order to erase their traditional languages and cultures. 

As Long as the Rivers Flow is the story of Larry Loyie’s last traditional summer before entering residential school. It is a time of adventure and learning from his Elders. He cares for an abandoned baby owl, watches his kokom (grandmother) make winter moccasins, and helps his family prepare for summer camp, where he will pick berries, fish and swim. While searching for medicine plants in the bush with Kokom, he encounters a giant grizzly bear. Gently but truthfully written, the book captivates its readers and reveals a hidden history. 

Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.7
Explain how specific aspects of a text's illustrations contribute to what is conveyed by the words in a story (e.g., create mood, emphasize aspects of a character or setting)

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.3
Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., a character's thoughts, words, or actions).

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.5
Explain how a series of chapters, scenes, or stanzas fits together to provide the overall structure of a particular story, drama, or poem.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780888996961
Publisher:	Groundwood Books
Publication date:	09/04/2005
Edition description:	First Trade Paper Edition
Pages:	48
Sales rank:	683,645
Product dimensions:	7.24(w) x 9.84(h) x 0.16(d)
Lexile:	660L (what's this?)
Age Range:	7 - 11 Years

About the Author

LARRY LOYIE (1933-2016) was a residential school survivor and an author of best-selling books on Indigenous history and traditions. As Long as the Rivers Flow is his moving contribution to understanding the traditional Cree childhood he loved and its loss when he was taken away to residential school. Larry Loyie regained his culture, and in his later years accomplished his goal of becoming an award-winning author and educator.

CONSTANCE BRISSENDEN, longtime partner of Larry Loyie and co-author of As Long as the Rivers Flow, is a freelance writer and editor. She has assisted in the creation of more than forty-eight books as author, co-author or editor, and continues to write from her home base in Edmonton, Alberta.

HEATHER D. HOLMUND graduated with honors from the Bachelor of Fine Arts Program at York Universitywhere her main concentrations were painting and metal sculpture. Since completing her degree, Heather’s artistic practice has led her to explore the exchange between the Canadian environment and the act of representation through art forms. Heather works between her studios in Pickering, Ontario, and Rainy Lake, Ontario. Her work is found in private and corporate collections, and is exhibited throughout Canada.

Editorial Reviews

A haunting combination of art, story and document.

Toronto Star

Loyie's quite words and Holmlund's authentic watercolor art capture the happy wilderness home...

Booklist

Gr 3-6-Given the appearance in recent years of books about Indian boarding schools, both fiction and nonfiction, this title offers an important perspective on the issue. Loyie shares a quiet but powerful first-person account of his last summer before he and his siblings were taken away from their family. Most of the story focuses on what was otherwise a normal seasonal routine for the Cree people of that era, with the family moving from their main cabin to their summer "camp" for a few weeks. Apart from the foreshadowed separation, this particular spring-summer progression was enlivened by the opportunity for the children to care for an orphaned baby owl, and an encounter with one of the biggest grizzly bears ever shot in North America. All of the day-to-day detail, close family bonding, and unexpected adventure draw readers comfortably into 10-year-old Lawrence's experience so that the final pages are all the more painful. When the children learn that they must go to the residential school or their parents will be imprisoned, and they are physically loaded onto the back of a truck by strangers, the sense of separation and loss is keenly felt. Holmlund's realistic and detailed watercolors expertly illuminate events throughout the story, in vignettes, plates, and a few full-page pictures. The epilogue briefly summarizes the facts about boarding schools in general, highlighting Lawrence's own experience, and includes several black-and-white photos.-Sean George, Memphis-Shelby County Public Library & Information Center, Memphis, TN Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

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