Coming Home

A homecoming should be a wonderful celebration, but it isn’t when Margaret returns after 2 years away at a residential school.

Margaret was sent away from her Arctic home at age 8 to go to school  and was not allowed to speak her language, eat her food, or learn her people’s traditions. So, when she returns home in Not My Girl by Christy Jordan-Fenton and Margaret Pokiak-Fenton, she is unrecognizable, “not my girl”. As the story unfolds, slowly, Margaret relearns all she had lost during her two years away. She regains her family’s trust and finally feels that she has found her home again.

From the publisher: Based on the true story of Margaret Pokiak-Fenton, and complemented by evocative illustrations, “Not My Girl” makes the original, award-winning memoir, “A Stranger at Home,” accessible to younger children. It is also a sequel to the picture book “When I Was Eight.” A poignant story of a determined young girl’s struggle to belong, it will both move and inspire readers everywhere.