Good for Nothing

The year is 1959, and 15-year-old Nipishish is kicked out of residential school, told by the principal that he's a good-for-nothing who, like all Indians, can look forward to a life of drunkenness, prison, and despair. Nipishish returns to the Métis reserve in northern Quebec where he was born, but feels even more isolated. His parents are dead and he is faced with the hopelessness of life on the reserve. He hopes for a fresh start when reserve officials give him the chance to live with a white family in an unfamiliar town.

Despite a few bright spots, the adjustment and indignities in the city are too much to bear. Just when it seems that he will fulfill the predictions of the residential school principal, a girl named Pinamen and friends help bring him back to the reserve. Adolescents will find inspiration in Nipishish's courage to reclaim his identity and claim his rightful place on the reserve. The book also provides great insight into the roots of many ongoing native issues.