Introduction


Stolen Girl is a fictionalised account of the Stolen Generation. This picture book for younger readers tells the story of an Aboriginal girl taken from her family and sent to a children’s home. Through the combination of beautiful mixed media illustrations by artist Norma MacDonald and a sensitive yet uncomplicated text by Trina Saffroti, readers are given an insight into the life of a child who has been displaced into a world void of love, family and culture. 

Before Reading

 Picture

Discuss the front cover and title of the book.
Describe the body language of the girl on the front cover.
Who is she?
How old might she be?
Where is she?​
What does the title suggest this book may be about? 

Discuss the Stolen Generation as a class (The amount of discussion will depend upon the prior knowledge of students).

  • ​When did this occur?
  • Who did it affect?
  • Why did it occur?
  • What effects may this have had on children taken from their families and on parents whose children were taken from them?


Read the preamble of Stolen Girl – ‘About the Stolen Generation’.
(Again the following discussion will vary according to the prior knowledge of the students)
​
What is meant by terms such as ‘full blood’, ‘assimilation’ and ‘integration’?
Discuss the reasoning behind the government policy that led to the Stolen Generation. 
Have you ever been separated from your family? You may have become lost or had to stay with friends or relatives? Brainstorm words to describe how you felt. 
Click on the button to the left to learn more about the Stolen Generation from a Behind the News presentation from the time of the Apology to those affected by these Government policies.

Read Stolen Girl and then Discuss

The story begins very abruptly with the sound of bells waking up the children before they eat breakfast at the children’s home.
• Compare the first two double-page spreads, especially the way in which the illustrations depict the very different experiences of eating breakfast.
• Discuss how these two illustrations symbolise very simply the differences between being with family and being at the children’s home.
• The girl’s mother teaches her essential life skills. What are these skills?
• The illustration of the girl having breakfast with her mother shows the two of them extremely content. Note that this happiness has nothing to do with material possessions — it is a true happiness based on love. What makes you truly happy? 
What story is being told in this illustration? (To the right)
The girl's mother teaches her essential life skills.
What important life skills have your parents taught you?
Discuss the importance of the relationship between parents and their children.

Look carefully at the page where the uniformed man takes the girl away.
The reader sees the life of the Aboriginal girl from two different perspectives. In the foreground of this illustration are things that may have seemed important to white people of the time such as the fact she is not wearing shoes. In the back- ground are things important to the girl — her country, her home. 

Re-read the text on this page.
Discuss the significance of these words as she is taken away from her mother. Do you think that the government perhaps did try to ‘forget’ that she was there by taking her away? 
Imagine you are this girl.What might be going through your mind at this point in the text? 

Identity

There are many things which give us our identity. That make us who we are. Can you name some of them? (Our name, the clothes we wear, family .....)
Discuss the ways in which the girl’s identity has been taken away in the story.

What does the girl do to try and hold onto her Indigenous culture and to remember her mother?

Finally


The final page opening offers a sense of hope as the girl decides to leave.
Look carefully at the illustration.

What stands out in this picture? 
​What does the key symbolise?

Resources

Kids Encyclopaedia (A website with explanations about the topic and further links at the bottom of the website's page)