"The Birchbark House"
by Louise Erdrich
If you enjoyed the Little House series, then you’ll most likely love the Birchbark House series as well. They share common themes of family and survival in 19th century America. It’s just told from the opposite perspective-that of a young Native American girl.
The Birchbark House, first of the 5 book series, opens up with a flashback of a baby girl and the sole survivor on Spirit Island when her entire village was wiped out from Smallpox. The following chapter introduces us to 7 year old Omakayas, the main protagonist of the story, and her Anishinabeg family as they prepare their home for Spring:
"All winterlong Omakayas's family lived in a cabin of sweet-scented cedar at the edge of the village of La Pointe, on an island in Lake Superior that her people called Moningwanaykaning, Island of the Golden-Breasted Woodpecker. As soon as the earth warmed, the birchbark house always took shape under Nokomis's swift hands. Now the dappled light of tiny new leaves moved on Grandma's beautiful, softly lined face."
Throughout the story, we get to see Omakayas within her loving family: a strong mother, a providing father, a wise grandmother as well as an older sister she envies, a little brother she can’t stand and a baby brother she just adores.
We also start to learn there’s something different about Omakayas, something unique. She has a special connection with animals. Later on, a yearning to be a healer like her grandmother grows in her heart after tragedy hits their village, leaving Omakayas devastated with no cure for a broken heart. Yet, love and family help Omakayas rebuild her life after great loss, leading her to understand her bigger purpose.
Louise Erdrich uses her beautiful gift of writing, her detailed illustrations and her desire to retrace her own Ojibwe family’s history, to create historical fiction that accurately depicts the life of the Anishinabeg- how they lived, their culture, their belief systems, and their reactions to their land being slowly taken away. Her writing makes you laugh out loud and makes you shed tears. It really is such a living chapter book for American History and the entire series has been an awesome free read in our home!
(The age recommendation is 8-12, but, as with any book being read to young children, I would caution you to pre-read and make sure it is appropriate for your child. There is a death of a beloved character, the killing of an animal, and a couple of ghost stories.)