• Age: 11 to 14
• Grade: 6 to 9
• Reading age: 11 to 14

When Nellie Winters was 11 years old, she was sent to attend the Nain Boarding School, a residential school 400 kilometres from her home. In this memoir, she recalls life before residential school, her experiences at the school, and what it was like to come home.

Accompanied by the author’s original illustrations, this moving, often funny memoir sheds light on the experiences of Inuit residential school survivors in Labrador.

Nellie Winters is an Elder from Okak Bay living in Makkovik, Nunatsiavut (Labrador). She is a respected artist whose work is commissioned and exhibited by galleries, museums, and private collections in Canada and around the world. She is widely respected as an Elder, knowledge holder, translator, author, and educator.

Nellie Winters' profile page

Erica Obendorfer is a cultural botanist who works with plant mentors in Makkovik, focusing on cultural plant knowledge and the plant ecology of cultural places. She lives in Goose Bay with her husband.

Erica Oberndorfer's profile page

"To read Elder Nellie Winters’ memoir, which is a book for all ages, is to better understand the history and impacts of residential schools in Labrador; as well as gain an appreciation for what it’s taken for survivors like Winters to keep their Inuit culture and community alive today."

Atlantic Books

"Reflections from Them Days offers a good look at what life was like for Inuit children in residential schools as well as with their life with their families. Winters’ drawings and stories are a great way for children to learn how people and children lived back in them days. Highly Recommended"

Canadian Review of Materials