As a fourth grade student, I gobbled up The Little House on the Prairie series one summer. I loved the rich storytelling of days gone by, could hear Pa's fiddle playing and the click of Ma's needles, and longed to taste the first taste of sugar snow when the family tapped the trees for their maple secrets hidden within.
Louise Erdrich has given a new generation of readers much of these same reading experiences, but has managed to tell it in the voice of a non-"chimookoman," or white person. No, this eight year old narrator is vastly different from Laura.
Omakayas, or Little Frog, has a family similar to the Ingalls':
-Mama, her hardworking and resourceful mother
-Deydey, her strict, often traveling father
-Nokomis, her loving, healer of a grandmother
-Angeline, her beautiful and seemingly perfect older sister,
-Pinch, her annoying younger brother
-Neewo, or "fourth," her baby brother whom she adores
-loads of aunts, uncles, cousins
-Old Tallow, a neighboring old woman who has an inexplicable soft spot for Omakayas
-Andeg, the tamed crow
This is a story, much like Laura's, of hard work, of self-sacrificing for the greater good of community and family, of long days put in so that the community and family can survive during the lean winter months and of stories told by the elders that teach, inform, and mold the younger set.
I'm surprised to say that this story is so much richer than Laura's, though. While it is the TRUE story of the westward expansion our history books are only beginning to scratch the surface with, the complexity of the story and how it was woven in a cyclical manner makes The Birchbark House THE story I will turn to when my students are looking for a story about life in the mid-1800's in the U.S.
I only wish I'd had this series of historically accurate tales to turn to when I was ten; however, I can rest knowing that at least this generation will have them to love.
HIGHLY recommended!
*Many thanks to Kate Olson, librarian extraordinaire and reviewer of all books ever printed, for pointing me in the right direction with this one.
*Now I'm off to read the rest in this series!
"West is where the spirits of the dead walk. If the whites keep chasing us west, we'll end up in the land of the spirits."
"I have dreamed that's where they want us to go, anyway," said Albert. "That will please them."
"They are like greedy children. Nothing will ever please them for long," said Deydey...
"Not until they have it all," said Fishtail. "All of our lands. Our wild-rice beds, hunting grounds, fishing streams, gardens. Not even when we are gone and they have the bones of our loved ones will they be pleased. I have thought about this."
The Birchbark House
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My son enjoyed the story and learn the the language of the tribes. The was exciting and sad but he enjoyed it.
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Neil
Not for little kids
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on January 16, 2023
Neil
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on January 16, 2023
This is not the Indian equivalent of little house though. It starts off with a scene where everyone but a baby dies of smallpox. There's then a scene where the 6/7 year old protagonist is left in charge of her baby brother, and she takes him out of his cradle board,which we are told no-one is allowed to do, and plays with him by a river. No-one finds out about this and it is seen as a good thing because it is their little secret. Not a lesson I want my 6 year old to learn. Then her father tells a terrifying story about some cannibal ghosts who try to eat him and his friends in the middle of the night.
I also find it a bit tedious that there is so much native American language in it, and an assumption that everyone should know what they're talking about. I mean as an adult it's interesting. There is a little dictionary at the back where you can look up the words, but as a 6 year old, having to be continually looking up words you don't understand is just a non-starter Having said that, if you were a native American, or even a non-native north american, then this might be enjoyable or serve a purpose.
So all in all, like I said, I'm enjoying it. But I would say that the 9-10 year recommendation that this book comes with is definitely one you should pay heed to. I'm very glad I decided to read it first before reading to my daughter. I'm struggling to know what age to recommend it to. The writing is too young for a 12-13 year old, but I think the content is too adult for younger kids.
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