Anaïka à la recherche de ses origines
by Cathy Pomerleau
À l'occasion de son seizième anniversaire d'adoption, Anaïka reçoit le plus beau cadeau qui soit : deux billets d'avion pour Haïti et un coffre contenant tout ce qu'il lui faut pour partir à la conquête de ses origines.
Soutenue par une famille aimante et des amies en or, la jeune violoniste quitte son Abitibi, sa terre d'adoption, pour découvrir un pays dévasté par le grand tremblement de terre de 2010. Elle y fera la rencontre de gens chaleureux et résilients qui l'aideront dans sa quête : trouver les morceaux qui manquent à l'histoire entourant le contexte de sa naissance.
Anaïka, c'est un récit en deux temps où l'on est touché par le mystère entourant la naissance d'Anaïka et par sa démarche pour mieux comprendre d'où elle vient.
Published: 2017
Originally written in French
Number of pages: 188
Recommended FSL Programs and Grades
Grade 9 (Immersion, Extended)
Grade 10 (Extended)
Grade 11 (Core, Extended)
Grade 12 (Core)
Race/Ethnic/Geographic Information
Author: The author is white, from a region of Quebec similar to that of Abitibi
Characters: Main character is from Abitibi, Québec who is adopted
Setting: Quebec and Haiti
Notes from a teacher-reader
Main character is born in Haiti and given up for adoption. Main character flies to Haiti to retrace her mother's steps and learn more about who she is. The novel takes place a few years after the 2010 earthquake. During the flashbacks the novel describes living through the earthquake in 1998
Character is mixed (mother is Black, father is white). She was given up for adoption. The adopted mother is in long-term care with aggressive and early onset Alzheimer's.
The chapters alternate between flashback and present day. There's definitely an element of mystery throughout as you want to know where she came from as she pushes on through her quest. There are bouts of challenging vocabulary but nothing overly challenging to understand. Very straight forward plot, I found it engaging!
Feel free to contact the teacher-reader, Amanda Cloutier , at amanda.cloutier@peelsb.com if you have questions about this novel.