The Train

As a young girl walks home from school through the Canadian countryside, she happens upon her uncle, who is standing at the site of a demolished train station. When she asks what he is doing, he answers that he is waiting for the train. Seeing the tracks in disrepair and knowing the line to be abandoned, the girl is confused, but as they sit together, the uncle relates the tragic history of how he, along with siblings and over 150,000 Indigenous children in Canada, were forced to leave their homes and attend residential schools, where their heritage and culture were repressed. Now he waits for “what we lost that day to come back to us.” Lesley’s illustrations flow between semi abstract and realism, matching Callaghan’s somber story of a reality shaped by a tragic but almost forgotten past. The inclusion of details such as the uncle eating a raw potato make the story very personal and believable. The narration is rough at moments—why does the light in Uncle’s eyes counter an otherwise cheerful expression coming over his face?—and presents a time of historical mistreatment in a tone that would leave readers with a sense of hopelessness but for the girl’s willingness to join her uncle in waiting for better days to return.