No Time to Say Goodbye: Children's Stories of Kruper Indian Residential School is a fictionalized account of the experiences of five First Nations children who attended Tsartlip Day School and were apprehended by government Indian agents and sent to Kruper Island Residential School. Author Sylvia Olsen talked with six community members and listened to their accounts of their time spent at the residential school. From these interviews the author compiled their experiences into a chapter book that is told from the point of view of these five children, Thomas, Wilson, Joey, Nelson, and Monica. Each chapter relates the personal experiences of the child and includes information about the food provided, the staff, the rules of the residential school, the harsh discipline, the abuse, the children's families and homes, and each child's longings. Several of the boys plan escapes and two actually achieve the dream of returning home only to be returned to this dreary place. While their lives are filled with pain and longing to return home the boys and girls find friendships with other students and find fun and laughter despite the situation. Illustrations by Connie Paul added to the archival photographs make No Time to Say Goodbye an engrossing and moving read. Residential schools in Canadian history are often overlooked in the contemporary curriculum but this novel makes the experiences of First Nations students come alive for today's classrooms. Reading Level: 5.3.
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