Description
A young Indigenous girl searching for a sense of home finds strength and courage in her gifts, her deepening connection to the land, and her own cultural awakening in this moving coming-of-age story.
The last thing that twelve-year old Misko wants to do is to move away from the city to spend time on the rez with her grandmother. And yet she feels strangely compelled to go, drawn by a pull that she feels in her dreams. Maybe she can finally find out what happened to her mother, who mysteriously disappeared when Misko was four years old.
Misko’s relationship to the rez shifts when she encounters a spirited horse named Mishtadim. But Mishtadim is being violently broken by the rancher next door and his son Thomas. Misko and Thomas clash at first, only to find themselves drawn together by the wild horse. As Misko slowly discovers her unique bond with the horse, she feels a sense of belonging and comes to understand the incredible beauty of the world all around her.
She Holds Up the Stars is a powerful story of belonging, (re)conciliation and the interwoven threads that tie us to family, to the land, and to our own sense of self.
SANDRA LARONDE is from the Teme-Augama Anishinaabe (People of the Deep Water) in Temagami, Northern Ontario. An accomplished arts innovator, multi-disciplinary artist and leader, Laronde plays a pivotal role in the ongoing Indigenous cultural resurgence of Canada. Most recently, Laronde won the 2021 Johanna Metcalf Performing Arts Prize and the 2020 Celebration of a Cultural Life Award from the Toronto Arts Foundation. Laronde is also the founder of Red Sky Performance, an award-winning company that leads in the creation, elevation, and evolution of contemporary Indigenous performance in Canada and worldwide. (8-4-22)