Nineteenth-century American pioneer life was introduced to
thousands of young readers by Laura Ingalls Wilder's beloved
Little House books. With The Birchbark House, award-winning
author Louise Erdrich's first novel for young readers, this
same slice of history is seen through the eyes of the
spirited, 7-year-old Ojibwa girl Omakayas, or Little Frog,
so named because her first step was a hop. The sole survivor
of a smallpox epidemic on Spirit Island, Omakayas, then only
a baby girl, was rescued by a fearless woman named Tallow
and welcomed into an Ojibwa family on Lake Superior's
Madeline Island, the Island of the Golden-Breasted
Woodpecker. We follow Omakayas and her adopted family
through a cycle of four seasons in 1847, including the
winter, when a historically documented outbreak of smallpox
overtook the island. Readers will be riveted by the daily
life of this Native American family, in which tanning moose
hides, picking berries, and scaring crows from the cornfield
are as commonplace as encounters with bear cubs and fireside
ghost stories. Erdrich--a member of the Turtle Mountain Band
of Ojibwa--spoke to Ojibwa elders about the spirit and
significance of Madeline Island, read letters from
travelers, and even spent time with her own children on the
island, observing their reactions to woods, stones,
crayfish, bear, and deer. The author's softly hewn pencil
drawings infuse life and authenticity to her poetic,
exquisitely wrought narrative. Omakayas is an intense,
strong, likable character to whom young readers will fully
relate--from her mixed emotions about her siblings, to her
discovery of her unique talents, to her devotion to her pet
crow Andeg, to her budding understanding of death, life, and
her role in the natural world. We look forward to reading
more about this brave, intuitive girl--and wholeheartedly
welcome Erdrich's future series to the canon of children's
classics. (Ages 9 and older) --Karin Snelson
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