(Audio) Book Review: 52 Ways to Reconcile by David A. Robertson

I received an Advance Listening Copy of this book thanks to the publisher and Libro.fm. All opinions are my own.

David A. Robertson is a prolific Indigenous-Canadian author who has written picture books, middle-grade stories, graphic novels, and two memoirs. He’ll be one of the featured writers at our local Writers Fest this August, in two events, as he has four books being released in 2025.

In 52 Ways to Reconcile, Robertson suggests 52 actions (one for every week of the year) that one might take to work toward reconciliation in Canada. These actions vary from reading books by Indigenous authors to participating in a demonstration in support of Indigenous issues. Robertson directs his readers to Indigenous podcasts, how to find a powwow near you and participate, how to honour an Indigenous belief system. The sections are short and easily digested, a book you can consume in a couple of sittings or dip in and out of throughout a year. His writing style is casual and most of the ways to reconcile are pretty simple. A lot of them revolve around media consumption – watching movies or TV shows made by Indigenous creators, or listening to Indigenous music, or reading comic books by Indigenous authors and artists. This is a very low stakes place to start (you could probably find most of these at your local library) but a great beginning. Personally, most of my initial knowledge about residential schools in Canada came from reading novels. When I was in school, these weren’t things that were taught in the classroom and my knowledge of local Indigenous history was slim to none. This is one way that things truly have improved – Robertson remarks on this too. He does a lot of author visits to schools across Canada and says that in every single one, kids from kindergarten to grade 12 are already familiar with the history of residential schools. (His book When We Were Alone is a great place to start with introducing the topic to very young children.) I’ve seen this with my own kids who learn both about the tragedy of residential schools in Canada and the celebration of Indigenous knowledge of our local area through their public school.

Robertson is less positive about government action, particularly around issues like keeping Indigenous women safe in our communities or providing drinkable water for multiple reservations across the country. These are major issues that still need to addressed and it will take many voices to make sure that the people are heard.

This is the type of book that will most likely be picked up and read by people who are already interested in and open to learning more about reconciliation. I could see where some might make the argument that Robertson doesn’t go far enough – there isn’t much here that will make white Canadian readers uncomfortable – but I think it’s a very positive jumping off point. Some people truly don’t know where to begin and might be easily overwhelmed. By starting here and beginning to implement these simple suggestions, I think we could see people then move on to the harder things.

I listened to this on audiobook, narrated by Robertson himself. While the narration was clear and fine, I have to be honest and say I didn’t love it. Robertson reads carefully but had a tendency to over-pronouncing words and a sometimes awkward cadence. It didn’t make me want to stop listening but it was something I noticed at several points.