Naomi Fontaine

Short chapters are like individual pieces of a complex patchwork quilt telling the story of a First Nations womanreturning home near Sept-Iles Quebec to be a high school teacher. The patchwork show aspects of a her college career, her longterm relationship with a non-native Quebecois, her return to remote Quebec to take up a position teaching French language and literature, her relationship with other teachers, with students, with family, with a new man. Most importantly, she discovers her self, her First Nations self, and her teaching self. The emotional similarity with "To Sir, With Love" is strong, but here the teacher is an Innu and the students are Innu. It's a quick, uplifting read, but I would have appreciated more character detail.… (mehr)