Letti in Progress
Description
Eleven-year-old Letti has always known she was adopted. She doesn't look anything like her blond, blue-eyed parents, and even though they are the most loving and supportive parents she could hope for, Letti can't help but notice the difference and wonder where she came from. After a mean kid in her class makes a racist comment about Letti's Indigenous heritage, her guidance counselor suggests trying to find information about her birth parents in an attempt to reconnect with her traditional culture. With this newfound knowledge, Letti and her family embark on a long road trip north to Kaska Dena territory, the land of Letti's ancestors. The journey reveals unexpected truths, connections, perspectives, and the start of a new chapter in Letti's life that reconciles her past with her present and future. At a time when the effects of adoption and the dark legacy of the Sixties Scoop are still being uncovered, Letti in Progress offers an opportunity for adopted children of any background and their parents to discuss the importance of identity and intercultural connections.
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Persons
Wendy Proverbs is an award-winning Indigenous author of Kaska Dena descent. Her debut novel, Aggie & Mudgy: The Journey of Two Kaska Dene Children, won the Victoria Butler Book Prize and the Jeanne Clarke Local History Award and was nominated for the First Nations Communities READ Award and the Rocky Mountain Book Award. Proverbs holds a BA and MA in anthropology from the University of Victoria. Like thousands of Indigenous people across Canada, as an infant she was caught in the sweeping scoop of Indigenous children taken from their birth families and was only reunited with biological family members as a young adult. She has acted as a community liaison with Indigenous communities and strives to help younger generations, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous, learn more about their past. She lives in Victoria, BC.