I really enjoyed this book. The story is about Cass, a 12 year old girl whose Mother inherits her Mother's home. She does not want to accept the inheritance as she was abandoned when she was young and brought up in foster homes. Cass convinces her that she wants to live in the house as they have never lived in the same place for any length of time. Cass was also bullied in her present school and this was a way to get out of the situation. Cass finds a mask in a drawer in the bedroom she has claimed as her own and hears it singing to her. She also begins to have some strange dreams. Meanwhile at her new school, she meets a Native boy who is being bullied and teased by a rich boy. She befriends him and his mother explains about Spirit Masks. When the mask is not where she left it, a mini adventure occurs. This book deals with bullying, poverty, residential schools, drugs and alcohol dependence. There are some supernatural aspects in this story surrounding the mask and the Native American spirituality which assist in telling the story of Cass and her family. The fact that the issue of residential schools did not just affect the residents but generations that follow is demonstrated in this story. This is a good story to assist children in understanding the residential school issues that is so relevant today. The author did an amazing job with this story that she wrote echoing her own discovery of her roots.

The Mask That Sang is a completely engrossing novel which addresses not only about bullying that happens in schools, but it also narrates that it exist even in a more larger extent, e.g. in indigenous people. Oppression to the native tribes in America, how the suffering these people have to endure through the hands of their tormentors, and how they were able to healed after was discussed on this book.

The author, Susan Currie, used the Iroquois healing mask as origin of her novel and from that, the fictional story of Cass, her mom and her grandmother's story was born. The sounds and dreams that Cass experienced once she possessed the false mask were quite intriguing; and it will make readers to look forward to reading on what could they mean.

Apparently, Currie made an excellent job writing this, as this book won the Second Story Press Aboriginal Writing Contest. I commend the author for coming up with this novel that must be promoted to schools and educators, as this book gives a brief look about the aboriginals; their culture and their history.