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Book Reviewed by:In this captivating sequel to National Book Award nominee The Birchbark House, Louise Erdrich continues the story of Omakayas and her family.
Her name is Omakayas, or Little Frog, because her first
step was a hop, and she lives on an island in Lake Superior. It is 1850, and
the lives of the Ojibwe have returned to a familiar rhythm: they build their
birchbark houses in the summer, go to the ricing camps in the fall to
harvest and feast, and move to their cozy cedar log cabins near the town of
LaPointe before the first snows.
The satisfying routines of Omakayas's
days are interrupted by a surprise visit from a group of desperate and
mysterious people. From them, she learns that all their lives may
drastically change. The chimookomanag, or white people, want Omakayas and
her people to leave their island in Lake Superior and move farther west.
Omakayas realizes that something so valuable, so important that she never
knew she had it in the first place, is in danger: Her home. Her way of life.
In this captivating sequel to National Book Award nominee The
Birchbark House, Louise Erdrich continues the story of Omakayas and her
family.
This is a wonderful book that our whole family enjoyed when we read it aloud together. Erdrich writes from the heart about the life of her 19th century Ojibwa ancestors...continued
Full Review
(435 words)
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(Reviewed by BookBrowse Review Team).
When asked
what inspired her to write these
books, Erdrich says, "My mother
and sister did research that led
our family back to Madeline
Island. Standing on the shores
of Lake Superior, I have
wondered whether my ancestors
stood in the same place, saw the
same scene, heard the same
sounds --- the high-pitched cry
of the flicker or the white
throated sparrow's song. It was
natural to want to write about
the past, for me, and it came
from the heart."
She lives in Minnesota with her
...
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