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

Christy Jordan-Fenton vit à Fort St. John, en Colombie-Britannique, Margaret Pokiak-Fenton est sa belle-mère.

Christy Jordan-Fenton
has been an infantry soldier, a pipeline laborer, a survival instructor,
and a bare back bronco rider. Christy has also worked with street children.
She was born just outside Rimbey, Alberta, and has lived in Australia,
South Africa, and the United States. She now lives near Fort St. John,
British Columbia. Christy works with her mother in law, Margaret
Pokiak-Fenton, to write stories.

Christy Jordan-Fenton's profile page

MARGARET POKIAK-FENTON a passé son enfance sur l’Île Banks dans l’océan Arctique. Elle a écrit Étrangère chez moi, Les bas du pensionnat et Quand j’avais huit ans. Margaret est décédée en 2021.

MARGARET POKIAK-FENTON was an author, Inuvialiut knowledge keeper, and residential school survivor. Along with her daughter-in-law, she wrote Étrangère chez moi, Les bas du pensionnat, and Quand j'avais huit ans. The books have garnered more than twenty awards and distinctions, including being placed on the Canadian Children’s Book Centre’s Best Books for Kids & Teens list.

Margaret Pokiak-Fenton's profile page

Liz Amini-Holmes lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her family and ever-growing menagerie of pets. When Liz is not illustrating, she is working on a Masters in Art Therapy, teaching, and obsessively reading and watching detective stories.

Liz Amini-Holmes' profile page