The day I became Number 54

Summary: We didn't ask to come to this place. We didn't know why we were here. We didn't know how long we would stay. We didn't know what was expected of us. We had to line up in the order of our number. Go to the dining room in the order of our number. Sit in the order of our number. Sleep in beds in the order of our number. March to church in the order of our number. We did everything in the order of our number. Even though Roberta and I got to stay on the same floor because her number was 34 and mine was 54, we couldn't sit next to each other, sleep near each other, or even talk to each other. We would always be 19 girls apart. The Day I Became Number 54 is a children's story. It is the story of Dawn V. Hill and her time at the Mohawk Institute Indian Residential School in Brantford, Ontario. All residential school experiences are children's stories because they were all children when it happened. If we were to ask a residential school survivor to describe their time in a residential school, their answer would be - being separated from family, being lonely, and always being hungry and afraid. This is a story of courage and survival.