School Statue Showdown

Tensions rise at Harold Sullivan Secondary School in small town British Columbia when a statue is vandalized. The statue depicts high school teen AJ Sullivan’s great-grandfather, a town founder and mayor. AJ is proud to be descended from such a prominent family. The people of neighboring Big River First Nation are not fans of the Sullivan legacy and call for the statue to be removed and the school renamed. AJ and his family react with outrage, and rift opens between AJ and his good friend Jackson, who lives at the reservation. It is only with the guidance of his grandmother that AJ learns much more about the history of institutional violence and racism in the town of Big River. Slowly, he realizes that stories about heroes have many sides. He must find the courage to stand up for what he believes, even if it means alienating his family and friends.

AJ is the protagonist of the book, and the purpose of the plot is to guide him from ignorance to knowledge. He begins the book unaware of more than a tiny sliver of the history of Indigenous and First Nations people in Canada and around his small town. He, like the rest of the white population, has the privilege of ignoring the past. He is reluctant to read through microfilm of the local paper for stories about his great-grandfather, as requested by his grandmother. But it does pique his curiosity, and, in examining his grandfather’s personal effects, he discovers a diary. What he finds is the cover-up of a death caused by his great-grandfather’s actions as mayor, a time when racist policies meant many Indigenous veterans had nowhere to live. AJ skips a rally arranged by white students to preserve the school’s name, but, when a school board meeting addresses the issue, he supports changing the name. He has learned how to think for himself.

School Statue Showdown is transparently an issue-driven book. It is an attempt to put current conversations about Indigenous land rights, racist policies and colonial history into story format in order to get kids thinking and to spark discussion. As such, it is appropriate as classroom reading material, though it is occasionally patronizing in its simplicity and didacticism. However, Starr has worked hard to make the book an easy and relatable read, with some action and drama, and to guide readers to a certain point of view without being too obvious. Because the text will do the job of opening up discussion, it can be useful, but there is little subtext or nuance to the book. Although the students and parents of the Big River First National speak their minds in a few scenes, the book is strictly from a white settler point of view.

The writing is slightly stilted at times, but, in general, the plot and prose flow well, and the dialogue is natural. The story includes a fight, a school suspension, navigating friendships and family relationships, library research and public speaking. Though AJ’s family owns the town mill, he is meant to be an everyman/boy. He is a popular jock with few problems who loves small town life. The book could probably have benefitted from some other perspectives, perhaps more than one viewpoint character. The characters are not stereotypes, but they could be more three dimensional. Starr does manage to give everyone a bit of a back story, though most are recognizable types. The book does not contain a single character who is a girl. The only woman is AJ’s grandmother who is probably the most positive figure in the story. She is portrayed as restrained and wise, compared to all the male hotheads. It would have been possible to include a female peer, and this would have brought a wider appeal. While it is important that AJ be able to take action in the book, the denouement does raise the spectre of the “white savior” trope, that it takes a rich white kid to convince everyone to pursue justice.

School Statue Showdown is a useful story told in terms that even the most reluctant reader can engage with. It is worthwhile and has good intentions, but it is up against a serious challenge to deal with significant issues in a way which is simple but not simplistic.