Indian School Days [Paperback]

Basil Johnston (Author)

Book Description

Indian School Days is the humorous bittersweet authobiography of Basil Johnston, a native Ojibway, who was taken from his family at age 10 and placed in a "residential" school in northern Ontario The book opens in 1939 when the feared Indian agent visits Johnston`s family and removes him and his four-year-old sister to St. Peter Claver`s School, a boarding school run by Jesuit priests at Spanish, 75 miles from Sudbury, Ontario. In describing the years that follow, Basil Johnston creates marvelous portraits of the young Indian boys as they struggle to adapt to a harsh and strange environment, and of their Jesuit teachers, whose flashes of humour occasionally break through the discipline with which the institution is run.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Basil Johnston has written several books ranging from folk tales and humorous stories to works on the Ojibwa language. After St. Peter Claver's School, he studied history and English at Loyola Collage, Montreal, and attended teachers' college. He is a lecturer in the Ethnology Department of the Royal Ontario Museum.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 250 pages
• Publisher: Firefly Books Ltd
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1550133071
• ISBN-13: 978-1550133073
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,863,588 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A page of history no one wants to see, April 6, 2003

By 

Scott N. Mcleod (Deep in the Heart of Zorra Township, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Indian School Days (Paperback)

When most kids skip school they don't get shipped off to a Residential School where they are treated less than human and have to learn quickly to get a long. From the opening sentence you are hooked as the boys armed with slingshots decide not to waste the day in school but go hunting instead. Trouble brews and soon the Indian agent shows up to take little Basil away to Spanish - a small town on the North Shore north of Manitoulin Island. The only problem is the Indian agent - (heartless white men who loved to play God) wanted a "pay" load and up and took the five year old sister of Basil too. Nobody got to say yes or no it was a done deal.To say this book is all serious - well it isn't. Humour comes through again and again these are surviors here people - not victims. Basil was gratefull for the education he got and where it lead him but the out come always depends on the person. What would challenge one person who drive someone else to the edge and over it. The boys rise to the challenge of chicken farming at the school - collecting eggs they'll never get to eat. A page turner for sure, take a closer look at Canada's dirty little secert that is just now being dealt with in court. A follow up list is in the back of the book to tell you what happened to these boys. Excellent read not to be missed

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Indian Residential Schools in CANADA, August 13, 2006

By 

Murmurd (Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Indian School Days (Paperback)

During the past few years, many books have been written by former boarders of Canadian Residential Schools for natives. Most, if not all, were a means for their author to live through the anger that churned inside because of ill treatment and sexual abuse by the staff. Much to my delight, though, the author of INDIAN SCHOOL DAYS does not write of such events. He describes his educational experience under the tutorship of Jesuit priests and brothers whose purpose was to teach their native boarders the white man's ways and thus make good Christians of them. Throughout the book, the author describes the daily schedule of the school, the teachers' attitudes, the children's reactions, etc. all eye-opening for readers, who were expecting a "tell all tale," a scandal. All considering, the author did benefit from the discipline of the school to the extent that he freely decided to return the Residential School in Spanish, Ontario as a highs chool student after having etched out a living as a trapper for a short while. By that time, the highs chool had been approved by the Canadian government, and many native boys matriculated on a voluntary basis, contrary to their forced entry into the Residential School as small children, who had been "kidnapped" from their parents by order of Canadian Law.
Times have changed since the 1940's and 50's and "conversion" of the natives is no longer part of 20th and 21st century standards. Natives are now rediscovering their culture and, as the author has done, are healing their wounds and that of their parents' generation.

5.0 out of 5 stars Read everything this author writes., August 11, 2008

By 

Patricia A. O'connor (Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Indian School Days (Hardcover)

From this book to Crazy Dave...we learn that a hard life breeds knowledge..and what you do with it depends on the individual. Mr Johnson was our teacher at Earl Haig and we were on the edge of our seats every day. He honored us with his presence at our reunions in 2002 and 2007...a really special man. Thank you Mr Johnson...