When We Were Taken

By Denise K. Lajimodiere

Stealing Little Moon meets Buffalo Dreamer in this bold new middle grade about one boy determined to survive at an Indigenous boarding school.

Turtle Mountain Reservation

North Dakota

On a bright fall morning, Joseph Standing Bear is stolen by federal agents from his family and sent to the Chemawa Boarding School thousands of miles away. Here it is expected that he will forget his family, his culture, and his entire life and learn to live in white society. On his first day, his hair is cut, his things from home are burned, and his language is forbidden.

Joseph struggles to settle into this unknown world filled with tough classes, cruel teachers, and harsh punishments. Despite trying go unnoticed, Joseph manages to make a friend (Sonny) and an enemy (Alfred) almost immediately. As he grows closer to Sonny and does everything he can to avoid Alfred, Joseph soon realizes that while there is a lot that can be taken from him, the best way he can fight back is to survive.

In big and small ways, Joseph and his friends resist the lessons being forced on them. They share stories of home and find reasons to laugh. They steal food from the kitchen and sneak out at night. Sometimes, in the quietest whispers, they even dare dream of running away. But can one boy hold onto who he is in the face of a government determined to erase him?

Inspired by family history, poet laureate Denise K. Lajimodiere weaves a extraordinary story of survival and hope during one of the most painful and long-buried chapters of American history.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1546157964
• ISBN13: 9781546157960
• Release Date: August 2027
• Publisher: Scholastic Press
• Length: 288 Pages
• Age Range: 9 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 4 to 7