
Fatty Legs
Age Range: 8 - 11
Age Range: 12 - 14
Eight-year-old Margaret Pokiak has set her sights on learning to read,
even though it means leaving her village in the high Arctic. Faced with
unceasing pressure, her father finally agrees to let her make the
five-day journey to attend school, but he warns Margaret of the terrors
of residential schools. At school Margaret soon encounters the Raven, a
black-cloaked nun with a hooked nose and bony fingers that resemble
claws. She immediately dislikes the strong-willed young Margaret.
Intending to humiliate her, the heartless Raven gives gray stockings to
all the girls — all except Margaret, who gets red ones. In an instant
Margaret is the laughingstock of the entire school. In the face of such
cruelty, Margaret refuses to be intimidated and bravely gets rid of the
stockings. Although a sympathetic nun stands up for Margaret, in the
end it is this brave young girl who gives the Raven a lesson in the
power of human dignity. Complemented by archival photos from Margaret
Pokiak-Fenton’s collection and striking artworks from Liz Amini-Holmes,
this inspiring first-person account of a plucky girl’s determination to
confront her tormentor will linger with young readers.