Art School Injustice

Have you heard of the Orca Soundings series of books published by Orca Book Publishers? These are incredible books written for middle grade to young adult audiences that are intriguing and stories of depth while still accessible to those who are not yet confident readers. 

Dreaming in Colour by Melanie Florence is a new addition to the Orca Soundings line. It’s a follow up to her 2017 release He Who Dreams. In Dreaming in Colour we rejoin the McCaffrey family but this time we have a story from sister Jen’s perspective. She’s a brilliant artist who gets into a prestigious art high school yet still faces racism and injustice in a place she thought would be more diverse and open minded.

Melanie Florence takes us through Jen’s journey to accepting herself and her family, her mom is indigenous and dad is Scottish. Jen looks more like her mother and her brother John looks more like their father. To some, it’s hard to reconcile these differences without making assumptions. Though her journey Jen realizes it’s her family’s differences that make them strong. Melanie matter of factly highlights all the microaggressions faced by Indigenous peoples on a regular basis. She illuminates the exhaustion and frustration felt by Jen when so is met with these micro aggressions. In Jen’s case it starts when she arrives at her art school audition and people assume her father is not her biological father. It continues with assumptions being made by classmates about her worthiness of admission. I love Jen’s strength and grit. She’s not shy to let people know they are being racist. I also really love the supporting characters Sabrina and Dan. They are strong supportive friends to Jen and help to lift her up but they do not come across as Jen’s saviours. Jen stands up to the bullies on her own, in her own way, demonstrating her strength and resilience. I’m betting there is a lot of Melanie and her daughter reflected in Jen.