Miya Wears Orange

A new way to think about the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, Miya Wears Orange by Wanda John-Kehewin and Erika Rodriguez Medina is a gentle reminder about the effects of  intergenerational trauma.

Miya’s teacher reads a story to the class about residential schools and how Indigenous children were taken from their homes and forced into the schools. Miya is the only Indigenous child in her class and it makes her tummy feel like a roller coaster. Will she be taken away from her mom too?

I love how Wanda John-Kehewin shows us adult readers how to share these types of stories with our children and for those who are educators, with their classes. Since we may not know each child’s history, it’s important to share these stories in a way as not to frighten but to teach. I love how Miya’s mom gently explains how they will never be forced away from each other and how the orange shirt helps to honour the children who did go to the schools.

This story was a wonderful reminder to me that it’s important to educate but also embrace, explaining that what happened to these children was incredibly sad and cruel and luckily this is no longer happening to children in Canada. I especially loved the reminder that the orange shirt is not just for one day of the year but something that can be worn to celebrate Indigenous peoples all year long., Each time we don an orange shirt, it is a remembrance and a celebration of the resistance.

Erika Rodriguez Medina infuses the illustrations with warmth and comfort. Residential schools is a difficult, heavy topic and her illustrations wrap the reader in a warm embrace and holds them throughout the story.