Summary of Keeper'N Me

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JOURNAL BOOK 4 Summary: The children were lured into the social workers’ car with chocolates while the granny was in the back yard. It was not until noon the next day that the frantic family found out what had happened to their children. The children were kept together for a year and then Garnet was separated from his siblings. His life story is a familiar one—a series of foster homes, escape and aimless searching, surviving as best he could and eventually becoming adept at street life. In Toronto he met a black family and learned for the first time the strength and support a family can provide. However, he also learned the drug trade and by age twenty he was in jail. His family located him in jail and the book is about his quest as he searches for his Indian identity. He rejoins his family and learns how to be an Ojibway. Keeper’n Me is basically a warm, happy story showing that family and elders are waiting to teach and heal those who have been denied knowledge of their heritage. The most significant person in Garnet’s life, except for his mother, is Keeper, a one-time protege of Garnet’s grandfather. Keeper, too, is seeking healing since he did not avail himself of the teaching offered him in his younger years. He is given a second chance when he helps his mentor’s grandson. As a stranger to reserve life, Garnet Raven had much to learn. The story of his orientation to the culture is told with great integrity and humour. As might be expected, Garnet laughs at himself and his own foibles. When he arrives at the reserve he is out to impress the country yokels with his city smarts. When he arrives people are “gawking like crazy” (31). This should come as no surprise since he is wearing mirrored shades, an Afro “all picked about three feet around my head,” a balloon-sleeved yellow silk shirt, lime green baggy pants with little cuffs, hippy platform shoes with

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