Peters, Amanda. The Berry Pickers. 2023. 320p. Catapult, $27.00 (9781646221950)
Recommended grade level(s): Grades 10+ & Adult Readers
Rating
- Buy it for the Adoptee Bookshelf: 5 Stars!
Identities Represented
- Mi’kmaq
Review
Ruthie is four years old when she disappears from the berry fields. The youngest daughter of a Mi’kmaq family that travels seasonally from Nova Scotia to Maine during berry season as seasonal laborers. Told in alternating perspectives, the narration unfolds through the perspective of Joe, Ruthie’s older brother, as he lies on his deathbed from cancer, reflecting on the guilt of her disappearance that he has carried with him throughout his life.
Secondary narrator, “Norma,” is now a young woman, reflecting on the pieces of her life that don’t make sense. Her overprotective mother, distant father, and the night terrors she has had since she was a little girl. Why doesn’t she have any baby pictures? Why is her skin darker than her parents? As Norma’s parents age and as she probes deeper for answers to her questions, the truth will come to light.
The audiobook narration hooks readers in through the captivating voices of Aaliya Warbus and Jordan Waunch. The stunning cover and pages of this book make listening to or holding the book in your hands a treasure.
Debut author Amanda Peters identifies as being of Mi’kmaw and settler ancestry, and beautifully explores layers of oppression through this novel, including family separation and how systems of oppression create intergenerational trauma.
Perspectives:
What I love about this book is that, as an adoptee reader, the author illustrates a haunting truth for many indigenous families and oppressed groups that begs the question, “Is adoption kidnapping?” Throughout our country’s history, family separation has been used as a method of subjugation. This book will provoke readers to reflect on the rights of indigenous people and how power and privilege allow those culpable to escape accountability.
Practice:
This book is a high-quality selection for:
- Book clubs
- Libraries
- Community circles
- College courses
- Adoption agency trainings
- Professional development for educators or social workers
Questions to consider:
- What role do colonial systems play in the story’s separation?
- How does the narrative engage with real histories of Indigenous child removal (residential schools, Sixties Scoop, foster systems)?
- Whose needs are prioritized throughout the story?
- What assumptions do people make about what makes someone a “fit” parent?
- What does healing look like — individually and collectively — in the novel?
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